Sleepy Hollow, A Halloween Tale
by mabelreid
Summary: Spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 Reid is having nightmares again, but this time they lead him into real danger in the real village of Sleepy Hollow.
1. Blood calling Blood

_A/n this follows canon to the end of season two. There are some AU things thrown in. This will not be completely serious or dark as this chapter may appear. I will be injecting my own humor into this and hope you enjoy it._

_Disclaimer: I own my own characters. Nothing of CM, Washington Irving, or Sleepy Hollow is mine. No copyright infringement is intended._

_**Blood calling blood.**_

The black clouds scuttled across the full and blood red moon. The wind pushed the stalks in the cornfield into frenzy. The sound in the night was like thousands of voices whispering on the wind. Shadows leapt and retreated from the trees around the road, making it seem as though the whole of the country was infested with highway men waiting to steal the baubles of rich women, and leave the rich husbands in bright crimson blood on the ground

The meal he'd eaten so gleefully just hours before, was turning to pap in his stomach. His hands and forehead were sweating. He urged the broken down horse faster through the cool, fall night. It was past midnight now, and the endless chirping of the crickets and cicada were giving him a headache. He decided to sing. His woefully out of tune voice began to quaver on the wind.

The horse galloped a little faster and he urged the beast on. This was a night for witches and hobgoblins, he was sure of it. Even the smell of the wind in the pine trees couldn't settle him as it usually did. There was a terrible sense of foreboding in his bones that he couldn't shake, and it got stronger with every step the horse took.

Something snapped behind him and he jerked back on the horse. The horse snorted loudly, its breath disappearing on the wind. The pace of the animal slowed even as he urged it forward again. He looked behind him and saw nothing but shadows and darkness.

"Get up Gunpowder." He told the stubborn animal.

His breathing began to increase when more snapping, and what sounded like footsteps came from his right in the woods. The "footsteps" increased and moved ahead of him.

"Come on Gunpowder… you stubborn animal. Get moving!" He whispered urgently to the horse.

The animal ignored his heel in its side, and maintained its pace down the dirt road. The moonlight waxed and waned in front of him, the crimson flashes were poor lighting of his path. He squinted ahead and saw a dark shape in front of him.

"Who's there… show yourself," He called as bravely as he could, his voice cracking.

The black shape did not move as he drew closer. Should he turn back and find another path to the farm he was staying at that week? No… he was almost there, he would go forward. His heart was leaping in his chest, and he was finding it difficult to breathe.

The wind whipped up the leaves of the trees and shook them hard. He couldn't hear anything above the din of the trees and the constant song of crickets. Leaves blew in shapes in front of him and he was nearly distracted from the thing in the road ahead of him. The moon was hiding behind the black clouds again.

He was nearly blind when he drew level to the shape. The horse was silent, and the figure that rode the black animal was still. Something told him not to speak to the apparition. He'd read about spirits and if he didn't speak to it, perhaps it would go away on its own.

His horse clomped past at its own sedate pace. The figure on the other horse didn't seem to realize he was there and he let out a relieved breath. He kicked his heels into the horse once more, and the animal actually obeyed him and picked up his pace a bit. He began to relax, as it didn't appear that the apparition behind him was following him.

There was a sudden sound of horse hooves behind him. The rider on the horse was approaching at a run. He urged his horse to go faster, and Gunpowder finally decided that he needed to move. He began to run down the dimly lit path. The rider behind him was silent, but for the pounding of the horse's shod hooves on the hardened dirt of the pathway.

"Get up Gunpowder, the road to the church is just ahead."

The partygoers that night had assured him that reaching the other side of the bridge would save him from the headless horseman. He was sure that was who was chasing him through the cool and windy night.

He kicked the horse again and leaned over the horse's neck. The horse was running flat out and he could hear the straining of its breath through its nostrils. His own breath was coming in gasps that he could see intermittently when the moon made an appearance.

The saddle was beginning to slip around. He was almost thrown to the ground, so he threw his arms around the animal's neck and shouted at him to run, run. The running horse behind him seemed to be right on top of him. He could hear the animal's breathing; feel its hot breath on his neck. He kicked the horse again and again.

They gained the road and the horse ran to the top of the hill, and clattered across the covered bridge. He had to reach the other side and he would be okay. He gave a shout of triumph when the horse passed the end of the bridge to the other side.

Gunpowder stopped abruptly nearly pitching him to the ground. He turned and saw the figure in black and his horse just feet away from him. The moon freed itself from the cloud cover and he saw the figure hurl his dis-embodied head at him. He tried to dodge the missile, but it connected with his head with a tremendous thud. Pain such as he'd never known slammed through his head, and he fell senseless to the ground as the horseman passed by like a demon on the wind.

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Reid shot up out of sleep, his heart pounding hard enough to break out of his ribs. His head felt as though it would explode with pain. He leapt out of bed and rushed to the bathroom where he was violently ill. He sat on his knees for a moment waiting for the nausea and the pain to pass. When some minutes had passed, and he thought he could move again, he got up from the tiled floor and flushed the toilet.

His mouth and throat stung with the taste of stomach acid and fear. He grabbed the mouth wash and rinsed out his mouth. If only he could rid himself from the specter that had persisted in haunting his dreams every night for the last three weeks.

He looked in the mirror and saw that the dark shadows under his eyes were deeper and more pronounced than ever. What was he going to tell Hotch this time? The senior agent had been questioning him about the shadows under his eyes, and encouraging him to talk to Gideon again. He shut off the lights in the bathroom and stumbled back to bed.

What was going on? These weren't ordinary nightmares. He felt the blow to the head the man in the dream took as though it would cleave his own head in two. The pain was worse than anything he'd ever felt. He wanted to know more, he had to know more, but his library and internet searches were fruitless. As far as anyone could tell him the headless horseman was a myth, a clever story written by Washington Irving in the beginning of the 19th century. It couldn't be real. If it was, why was he reliving it in his dreams?

He turned on the light and saw that it was four thirty in the morning. He might as well get up; he wouldn't get back to sleep before his alarm sounded in an hour anyway.

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The old men stood in a circle in the moonlight. The Guardians as they were called were chanting over a fire in the center of their circle. There were herbs and flowers around them in a protective circle. The eldest of them, Henry Van Tassel, threw white powder into the fire. It glowed green for a moment, before dying back to an orange and yellow color. Shadows danced around them and blocked out their faces from one another.

"It's not working." One of the men said as the ritual ended some time later.

"Patience… he was not brought up here in our ways. His heart is one of science and rationality. He will resist the call, but in the end… blood will win out, and he will come to us."

"I hope you're right Van Tassel. We must have the sacrifice, or the consequences will be more terrible than we can imagine. The black haired man pushed back his hood and fell into step with the others.

The moon shone red overhead.

_A/n most of the facts about Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman are taken from Wikapedia and the story of Washington Irving. I give him credit for the brilliance of the legend he created. I'm trying to be as accurate as I can about the legend and the town, so please feel free to correct me if I mess up. The name of the horse and other details are also taken from a radio dramatization I have on CD of the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow."_


	2. Chocolate cake and Chocolate cookies

_A/n here is the next chapter. Again credit for any facts about Sleepy Hollow and the surrounding town is taken from Wikapedia and other sources on the internet. Please forgive any mistakes. _

_My most sincere thanks to all who have reviewed or added this story to their alerts. Also a big shout out to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC. She keeps me honest._

_Disclaimer: Nothing recognizable is mine it belongs to the properly copyrighted parties and yada yada!! _

_**Chocalate cake and Chocolate Cookies**_

"Where ya headed to young man?" The old woman behind the service station counter asked Reid as he perused a selection of chocolate chip cookies prominently displayed in front of the ancient till.

"Ah - I'm just out for a drive." He said evasively, wondering why he felt it necessary not to tell this woman that he was headed for Sleepy Hallow. He looked at the cookies again, and the white haired woman in front of him wheezed out a laugh.

"Ya like the look of those cookies, do ya. Ya need some meat on ya bones, young man, you're positively wastin' away." She pulled her yellow knitted sweater around her small, well-fleshed frame.

Her white hair floated around her shoulders as though a cloud had escaped the sky and was following her around. She was very small and very plump. Her face and grey eyes were merry. Her cheeks were pink, and her nose was a button in the middle of her face. Her hands were twisted and swollen, but she smiled gaily at Reid, seeming to ignore the pain of arthritis that must have hurt her terribly.

"I - ah… yeah... I'd like a couple of those cookies." Reid said, his sweet tooth overcoming his brain's objections to buying something that was obviously homemade and packaged rather amateurishly. The cookies were individually wrapped in clear Saran wrap and tied with colorful bows in fall colors. The tags that were stuck haphazardly on the front of each one were "Ethel's Edibles," whether they were edible, or not remained to be seen.

"There ya are sonny. Enjoy the fall colors on yer trip."

She waved at him as he hurried out of the small service station and into his rental car. The cookies were tossed unceremoniously on the seat next to him, and the bottled water went into the cup holder under the radio, and heat/ac unit on the dash board.

Westchester County was beautiful this time of year. Halloween was visible, even in the small town of Scottsdale. The homes were disturbingly alike. Most of them were painted white with different colored shutters on the windows. There were pumpkins carved and displayed on front porches. There were decorations on lawn. There were ghosts, and goblins, and skeletons all over the yards of the residents.

He left the town and turned back onto the state route that would lead him back to the interstate. The leaves were turning gold, and orange, and red on the trees around the edges of the freeway. He was heading north on I-87. It would take him another two hours to get to Tarrytown and the village of Sleepy Hallow. He was glad to be skirting New York City. It wasn't rush hour, but he well knew that traffic in New York was always bad

He finished one of the cookies fifteen minutes later, chewing slowly to savor the flavor. The cookie was surprisingly good. The cookies reminded him of his mother before she descended into schizophrenia. He reached over and picked up the second cookie. There were real chunks of chocolate in the cookies instead of wimpy little chocolate chips. The second cookie disappeared down his throat so fast, he barely had time to taste it, and he wished for a third cookie.

He turned on the radio and found a song he hadn't heard in years. It was a song from Prince, recorded in the eighties and very popular at the time.

_We're all excited, But we don't know why  
Maybe it's cuz, We're all gonna die_

And when we do (When we do), What's it all 4 (What's it all for)  
U better live now, Before the grim reaper come knocking on your door

Tell me, are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down  
Oh, no let's go!

Let's go crazy, let's get nuts  
Look 4 the purple banana,'Til they put us in the truck, let's go!

C'mon baby, let's get nuts  
Yeah, Crazy! 

Maybe that was his problem; he was going crazy just like his mom. Why else would he be out here traveling to a village he'd never seen before, alone? Why was he singing along to the song?

He pushed the button on the radio to change the channel cutting Prince off mid wail. The next station was replaying the old Halloween radio show classic, "War of the Worlds." He was happy to hear that it was the original 1938 version. He decided to push back the voice in his brain that said he shouldn't be in south-east New York State alone, and enjoy the program.

He failed miserably at that endeavor; the other voice in his head was stronger. It was telling him to move ahead, that he had to be in Sleepy Hallow that day. He tapped a finger on the steering wheel impatient to get to where he had to be. All of the research he'd done on Tarrytown and the nightmares he'd had didn't tell him more than the facts of the village.

Before he knew it the sign for Exit 9 was coming up on his right. He signaled and took the off-ramp. He turned left at the light to Route 119, and then he made a right hand turn at the next light to route 9. He passed into Tarrytown, and then Sleepy Hallow was in front of him.

The village didn't resemble the small settlement Washington Irving described in his short story. It didn't look anything like Reid had seen in his dreams. Demographics began to run through his head as he slowed down to take a better look at the town.

Sleepy Hallow had 9,212 people in the census of 2000. It is a village located in the town of Mount Pleasant. It was once called North Tarrytown, and before that Beekmantown. The name was changed to Sleepy Hollow in 1997.

It didn't help him to think about these facts. What did help him was that most of Sleepy Hollow looked like a modern town, not a colonial village. There were some historic landmarks, like Philipsburg Manor, The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery where Washington Irving was buried.

His attention was brought back to the street when he saw a sign for what looked like a small inn. He pulled off the road and parked in front of the two story colonial house. The wooden structure was painted white. There was an oval shaped sign over the white picket fence that surrounded the hotel. It read "Horseman's Rest." Well he couldn't resist that, could he? Maybe it was a sign.

_Why do you suddenly believe in "signs?" _

He switched off the engine and climbed out of the truck with his ready bag. The gate in front of the bed and breakfast was open in invitation, and he answered that invitation by stepping through the gate and heading up the walkway and through the door. There was a bell over the door that dinged when he entered and he jumped just a little.

There didn't appear to be anyone at the desk in spite of the bell over the door and the bell on the desk. He approached the desk and rang the bell. He waited and no one responded. The soft ticking sound of the clock over the desk was the only sound. It was kind of creepy.

The décor was pretty normal. There were white lace curtains at the windows that hung down to brush the polished hardwood floors. There were braided throw rugs and paintings of the countryside as it had been two hundred years ago. To the left and behind the desk was a wooden staircase. It was darkly stained and also polished to a high shine. The table next to the entry way had a white embroidered doily on it and a crystal vase full of black roses, or roses that looked black because they were a dark red. No one had come out to answer the bells, and a shiver popped goose bumps onto his arms. He decided this had been a mistake and it was time to leave.

His feet were taking him back to the door when a voice said from behind him. "You can't leave young man!"

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JJ stood next to Reid's desk tapping her foot angrily on the floor. Morgan was sitting at his desk throwing glances her way and grinning. Garcia was sitting in Reid's chair swinging back and forth. Emily looked at the desk and shook her head.

Garcia and JJ had been busy earlier that morning decorating the desk with steamers in clashing bright colors. There was confetti made from red, yellow and blue construction paper strewn all over the surface of his desk, onto his keyboard and on the floor. To one side of his desk on top of a bunch of files was a big birthday cake. It was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and there was a big sign attached to one side of the desk that read "Happy Birthday Reid." The only thing missing was Reid himself.

JJ continued to glare at the elevators. Emily was sure she would pull out her gun and shoot the next person that wasn't "Spence." Okay… so maybe not, but the blond media liaison was pissed. Emily decided not to ask her when she was going to give up on Reid. It's not like this was the first time he hadn't shown up for something. Okay so that wasn't fair. She knew about the drugs now and the fight he'd had not to give in and feed his addiction. He was clean now, so his not showing up was no cause for alarm, right?

"Where is he? Its after eleven o'clock, he's never this late. Someone should call him!" She demanded; her hands were fisted at her sides. Morgan was trying really hard not to laugh at her. Ever since the incident with Tobias Henkel, JJ had watched Reid like a hawk. She felt responsible for his torture, near death and the Dilaudid. Emily suspected there was more to it than that, but she kept her mouth shut.

"We already called him, he isn't answering. The case we just had was tough, he's probably sleeping in. I would have slept in too, if you two hadn't bribed me into picking up the cake." Morgan said, putting his feet up on his desk.

"Why are you acting so blasé about this?" JJ demanded glaring at her teammate. "We miss his birthday because of bad case and now it's Halloween, how can he not show up.

"I'm not… but we gotta start trusting the guy… okay."

"Morgan is right." Hotch said, entering the bull pen.

"But Hotch he -"

Hotch held up a hand to stop JJ. "I agree with you too…. call Reid and find out where he is!" He ordered.

She opened her mouth to complain, and snapped it shut again when Hotch turned his glowering look on her.

The phone rang and rang in her ear. She tried his cell and his land line. He didn't answer either one of them.

"He's not answering Hotch." JJ told him as Gideon came out of his office.

"Reid still not here," Gideon asked gravely.

"No… and I'd like some of that cake before it turns stale." Morgan said.

"Is that all you can think about, your stomach." JJ wanted to know.

"No… but I've seen him. He looks like he isn't sleeping. If he is sleeping today, should we wake him up?" Morgan asked eyeing the cake again.

"JJ… let's give it another fifteen minutes, and if he doesn't answer the phone we'll go see him." Hotch said following Gideon up to his office.

"It's a good thing we don't have a case or Hotch wouldn't be this cool." Emily remarked watching the senior agent enter Gideon's office and shut the door.

JJ glared at Emily and took out her cell phone ignoring Hotch's instructions to give Reid more time. When he didn't answer the phone this time, she left the bull pen and went up to her office. Emily called after her, but she ignored the profiler. Obviously no one else was worried, so she would have to take matters into her own hands and go find out what had happened to Reid. She grabbed her purse from under her desk and left the office, slamming the door behind her.


	3. Reid's apartment and The Horseman's Rest

_A/n hey people. Thanks so much for your kind reviews. As originally stated, the information on Sleepy Hollow and the legend of the headless horseman is taken from Wikapedia and other sources on the internet. Please forgive any errors. _

_My sincere thanks to my fabulous beta REIDFANATIC_

_Disclaimer: I don't own CM or anything to do with Sleepy Hollow or Washington Irving. No copyright infringement is intended. _

**_Reid's apartement and The Horseman's Rest_**

JJ strode to the elevator and ran straight into Hotch when rounding the corner from her office. "Did you talk to Reid?" He asked.

"No… I'm getting really worried." She confessed.

"Okay… I agree we have a problem. Take Emily with you and go check his apartment." Hotch said, walking with JJ to the elevators.

He veered off into the bullpen and went over to Emily's desk. "JJ is going to Reid's apartment. I want you to go with her and make sure he's okay."

Emily looked up from the stack of paper work on her desk and scowled. "Ah - sir… I know you're worried about him, but can't Morgan go. I've got paperwork up to my eyebrows."

"Everyone has paperwork Agent Prentiss. I want you to go with JJ." He lowered his voice and said. "She's pretty pissed at him. I need you to keep her from killing him if he just overslept." His eyes were as serious as ever, but a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Sir… with all due respect, I didn't sign on to baby sit a love struck unit liaison." Emily snapped at him.

"I know that, but I'd like for you to go." Hotch insisted, in a very reasonable tone of voice. .

"Fine… I'll go play go-between. Just don't blame me if I don't throw myself between them if she decides to do him bodily harm… _sir_!"

Hotch left the bullpen, smiling when his back was turned. "Hey Prentiss… take these with you. I doubt JJ has a set unless those two have something going on that none of us know about." Morgan tossed her something and she missed catching them.

"Damn it…" She hissed looking at the keychain lying on the floor at her feet. "Why do guys always have to lob objects at your head? Can't you get up and hand whatever it is to a lady." She demanded.

"Geez… what's your problem?" Morgan asked unconcernedly.

"I don't like babysitting." She shot back. She squatted down and picked up the keys.

"Hey… how come you have keys to Reid's apartment?" Emily wanted to know.

"He gave them to me last year. He never said, but I think he wanted to make sure someone could get to him if he screwed up, or took an overdose of Dilaudid on purpose. I forgot I had them till know." He told her bluntly. "If he's there, tell him I don't want them anymore. He doesn't need me to baby sit him."

Emily regarded him for a long moment then she nodded and turned to leave. "See ya later… and Morgan… stop checking out my ass." She said over her shoulder. An agent passing in front of Morgan's desk smirked, and Morgan frowned, causing the young man to head in another direction.

Emily strode onto the elevator and glared at JJ, who was ignoring her. JJ was on her phone trying to call Reid again without success.

"I think you're overreacting. Reid can take care of himself." Emily observed with her eyes on the doors of the elevator car.

"Emily… I know you don't like Reid, but something is wrong. Even if he were sick he would call in to the office. He isn't as irresponsible as you think." JJ snapped at the older woman.

The elevator doors opened, and JJ swept out of the car and into the parking garage without another word.

Emily stood tapping her foot for a moment then she followed JJ to her car.

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His feet were taking him back to the door when a voice said from behind him. "You can't leave young man!"

He whipped around and saw a very old man standing behind the desk next to the stairs. He was about medium height and very thin.

'Sorry young man. I didn't mean to scare you. We haven't got many visitors right now, and I get over excited when someone does come in here."

The old man looked as though a strong wind could blow him away. His face was wrinkled, but he smiled winningly at Reid. He gestured with a hand that was as wrinkled as his face and covered with brown age spots.

"Really… I would have thought with Halloween today, you would have all the visitors you could handle. This is Sleepy Hollow, isn't it?" Reid asked, walking back to the desk despite his misgivings about being here.

"Yes… it is Sleepy Hollow and famous for the headless horseman. You see… we're closing up shop. This is our last week and our reservations are down to nothing."

Reid noticed as he stepped up to the desk, that the old man had ample white hair on his head, as though his scalp had sucked all the vitality out of his body and gave it to his hair.

"My name is Jan Van Cleef. I'm the proprietor of this hotel. I own it with my wife Maria. We would be pleased to have you stay with us." The man smiled again, but Reid thought he saw something in the man's eyes that was gone in the next instant. He must have imagined it.

"I'm Spencer Reid. Yes… I do need a place to stay, but it's only until tomorrow. I have to get back." He said firmly. He wasn't sure why he didn't give the man his title, or admit that he was a federal agent.

"Well… that's wonderful. Maria will be so happy to see you." The man gestured to the book on the desk. "I'm afraid we don't use computers. I don't trust them. One day they'll all go bad and then we'll be in a hell of a fix."

Reid raised an eyebrow and was secretly laughing on the inside. Garcia would consider what the man had just said as blasphemy. A sharp pang of guilt shot through his midsection as he signed the guest book. He shouldn't be here. Hotch would be furious that he hadn't called to let him know where he was. He set the old-fashioned fountain pen on the desk and looked at Mr. Van Cleef.

The old man was standing there beaming at him and holding an actual key in his hand. There was a tag on the key with the number thirteen on it.

"Are you alright Mr. Reid?" The old man asked. He came around the desk and picked up Reid's bags.

"Ah - yeah I was just wondering why you use keys instead of key cards." Reid followed the man up the stairs. He had to really move to keep up with the smaller man.

"I told you. I don't like technology. Have you ever tried to work one of those key cards? They're too much trouble."

He opened the door with the key and entered. Reid was again surprised at the room. There was a large four poster bed in one corner of the room. There was a white lace canopy over the bed that matched the bed spread and embroidered comforter. Across from the bed was a tall dresser with brass handles. It was stained dark to match the hardwood floors. A vase made from some type of ceramic, and painted dark blue stood on a small, three cornered table in the opposite corner. There was a doily under the vase that matched the one in the lobby of the hotel. At the third corner across from the door, there was a stand stained to match the dresser. On top of it were a ceramic pitcher and a basin. They were painted with a cream colored background, and large purple lilacs that were rendered with such detail, that Reid thought them real for a few seconds. Next to the bed was a night stand with a lamp and a phone. There was a door next to the stand with the ceramic pitcher and basin. Mr. Van Cleef indicated that the bathroom was through that door.

"This will do… I dare say." Mr. Van Cleef stated with a low bow.

"Yes… it's very nice." Reid agreed.

"Good… if you need anything… just pick the phone and hit zero. We provide breakfast, but we don't have a kitchen for other meals."

"That will be fine. I just have coffee in the morning anyway." Reid assured the man.

"Oh… I think Maria will get you to eat. She will say you need meat on your bones." Mr. Van Cleef said with a slight laugh, rather like a cough.

"Now… I must attend to my other duties. Here is your key and enjoy your stay with us." He was turning to leave the room when Reid asked him what sights to see in the town.

"Well now… you don't want to miss the Cemetery or The Old Dutch Church. If you like, I can have my granddaughter show you how to find them."

"No… that won't be necessary; I can find my way around." Reid said, his face going pink. Why did everyone find it necessary to try and find him a girl?

"As you wish," the man bowed again and left the room.

Reid picked up his bag and put it on the bed. When he'd finished hanging up his spare set of clothes, he sat on the edge of the bed and looked around. This was crazy… why was he here, and why had he turned off his phone? The others would be worried about him by now. He should go home.

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JJ and Emily made the trip to Reid's apartment in silence. It was close to noon and she'd given up calling Reid's cell. He was ignoring her or it was turned off.

"JJ… what you said about me… it's not true. I like Reid. He's very cute in a quirky, nerdy kind of way. I know he's had a hard time after what happened in Georgia. I really hope he's okay."

JJ turned into the apartment complex and parked her car. "I'm sorry Emily. I'm just worried." She and Emily got out of the car and walked to the entrance of his building. A young woman with red hair passed them as they entered. She was pushing a baby stroller and glaring at them.

The elevator was slow, and it creaked a little when it reached the level they wanted. Reid's apartment was on the fifth floor. When JJ got to number 5H, she pounded on the door. "Hey Reid… its Emily and JJ. Are you in there Spence?"

"Don't shout like that, the neighbors will call the cops." Emily hissed at her.

They waited for a few minutes and JJ resumed pounding on the door. A woman with iron gray hair opened the door next to his apartment and peered out. "He isn't there." She stated with the certainty of someone that was a professional snoop.

"Sorry to bother you ma'am, but were looking for Agent Reid." Emily held out her badge to the old woman.

"Yeah… I figured that out. He isn't here. He left about five this morning. He had his bag with him. I figured he was out on a case. You're not on a case are you?" The older woman asked enthusiastically.

"Ah - no ma'am. So you haven't seen him since this morning?"

"No… you see I don't sleep well, and I was looking out the door to see if the paper had come and that nice Agent Reid came out of his apartment." She said pulling her sweater tighter around her shoulders.

"Did he say where he was going?" JJ asked impatiently, and the older woman scowled at her.

"No… I don't pry into his business." She answered, looking put out.

"Ma'am… we really need to find him. He might be in danger. Are you sure he didn't say anything to you?" Emily asked in a placating tone.

"No… but he did say that he was glad he wouldn't be here for the trick-or-treaters. He doesn't like it when the kids knock on his door." The woman informed them as if it were a state secret.

"Thank you ma'am." Emily said.

"You'll find him won't you? He's such a nice young man. I was saying to my friend Mavis the other day, that it's a real comfort to have a real FBI agent in our building."

"Of course… what's your name?" Emily asked while JJ tapped an impatient foot behind her.

"I'm Estelle Jones. My husband was a police officer you know. Thirty years with the DC metro police department." Mrs. Jones informed them.

"That's great. Listen we have to go." Emily escaped with JJ into Reid's apartment.

It was exactly how Emily expected it to be. There was a battered green couch against the far wall, and a huge bookcase on the opposite wall loaded down with books. There didn't appear to be a television in the room. The blinds were drawn over the window and the room was gloomy. JJ snapped on the lights and Emily moved into the kitchen. It looked to her like he'd never used it.

She met JJ in the hallway and they looked toward the door at the end of the hallway and then at each other. Would Reid forgive them if they went into his bedroom? Emily decided to think of it as just another search in a victim's home.

"Come on…" she went down the hall and opened the door.

"Oh my God!"


	4. Discoveries and new questions

_A/n Thanks to all who are follwing this story. I appreciate your feedback. For my purposes, I have combined the cemetery Washington Irving used in his story with the Old Dutch Church, in reality they are in two seperate locations. _

_Thanks again to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from CM, Washington Irving or Sleepy Hollow. I own only my own original characters. No copyright infringement is intended. _

_**Discoveries and new questions.**_

She met JJ in the hallway and they looked toward the door, and then at each other. Would Reid forgive them if they went into his bedroom? Emily decided to think of it as just another search in a victim's home.

"Come on…" she went down the hall and opened the door.

"Oh my god," Emily exclaimed.

"What is it… what happened?" JJ said rushing up to her friend.

They looked into the small bedroom with astonished eyes. There were two windows. One was directly in front of them on the other side of the room. The second was to the right of them across from the bed. The windows had the same blinds as the one in the living room, but they weren't shuttered so some light was able to get into the room.

There was a computer desk in one corner of the room, and Reid's laptop sat there with several reference books stacked neatly around it. There was a closet to the left, its door shut. The bed was neatly made and the floor picked up.

What had caused Emily to exclaim out loud was something on the far wall. It was a life size picture. It looked like a collage, only the pictures were hand drawn. There were words interspersed with the drawing of the headless horseman, and a man in what looked like and 19th century suit that was all black. His hair was tied back and he wore black hat. There were trees, and a church. The words said headless horseman, cursed, blood calling to blood, Sleepy Hollow. Everything was rendered in such great detail it almost looked alive hanging there on the wall and facing Reid's bed. The colors were done in black and red, and yellows and was garish in the extreme.

"What the hell…" JJ spluttered.

"Reid did that," Emily asked in disbelief.

"I don't think so. I mean obviously he drew it, but it isn't his style. I've seen his drawings and this isn't one of them. It looks like some else has…." She broke off, not believing what she was thinking. "I can see why you freaked." She finished lamely.

Emily didn't respond to JJ. She entered the bedroom and approached the computer desk.

The desk had a layer of clutter on top of the obvious neatness. There was a large book of dream interpretation, written by Sigmund Freud. She smiled to think that Reid would of course have Freud's books. There were two books to the left of the laptop on the history of New York, Sleepy Hollow and Tarry Town. There was a notebook to the right of the laptop without a title, and there was a pen lying next to it. She found several other books about the Legend of the Headless Horsemen and Colonial folk tales.

"Emily… what's going on," JJ wondered her eyes huge. She picked up the notebook and opened it. The first page was titled "Dream Diary." She closed it with a snap. It was his private thoughts and dreams. They were none of her business.

"I don't know what all this is, but his messenger and ready bags are missing. We don't have a case, right?" Emily said, frowning.

"I don't know what's going on, but I think we need to call Hotch. Something is definitely not right." JJ remarked tracing a finger over the dream diary. She wanted to read it; morbid curiosity was trying to overcome her good sense and her loyalty to Spence.

"I'll call him right now. Why don't you see if you can find out where he went?" Emily moved out of the bedroom, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket.

JJ made herself look around the room instead of obsessing over the notebook on the desk. She began to open drawers in the desk, silently begging Reid to forgive her. There was nothing shocking in the desk, just neatly labeled files for paying bills. There were computer manuals and files for some research he was doing for a paper on anger excitation rapists, and serial killers for American Psychology magazine. There were other files for similar research and papers. In the back of the bottom drawer under a stack of unused manila file folders, she found a tabloid magazine with Reid and Lila Archer on the cover. Her hand hovered over the magazine. A sudden surge of anger shot through her. What was Spence doing with a picture of himself and that tramp in LA?

"JJ… what are you doing?" Emily demanded from behind her, making the blond jump and bump her head on the chair next to her.

"Damn it!" She yelped. "What did you do that for," she wanted to know; as she got up from the crouch she'd adopted to search the desk.

"I've been calling out to you for two minutes. Didn't you hear me?" Emily asked. She grabbed the magazine out of JJ's hands, holding it over her head, and away from JJ's reaching hands..

"What is this?" Emily said, jumping up, and backing away from JJ as she looked at the magazine.

"Give it back to me!" JJ demanded.

"Oh no… I don't think so. Well…well… what do you know? Dr Reid on the front page of a national tabloid and with Lila Archer no less. So how did this happen?" Emily said with a conspiratorial grin. JJ snatched the magazine out of her hands, and pushed it back under the file folders.

"We had a case in LA. Lila Archer had a stalker. She was killing anyone that got in the way of Lila's career." JJ replied, leaving out the more "interesting" details of the case.

"The un-sub was a woman?" Emily asked looking very surprised.

"Yeah… her personal assistant if you can believe that."

"Okay… so an obsessive friend takes out Lila's rivals. You guys get the case and she and Reid get cozy because she has a thing for nerdy geniuses." Emily guessed skeptically, watching JJ very closely.

"Yeah that's about it." JJ said avoiding Emily's eyes.

"Right… why don't you tell me what really happened." Emily asked her arms crossed over her chest.

"There's nothing left to tell." JJ said evasively.

"Okay… so why is your face as red as an apple, and you look like you could strangle someone. Is that someone Lila?"

"I'm fine. What did Hotch say?"

Emily huffed out her breath and glared at JJ. "Fine… but I'll find out what happened with the genius and the princess. Maybe Morgan will tell me. Hotch wants us to take pictures of what we found in here, and get back to Quantico so we can figure out what to do next."

"Good… I mean we should talk to the rest of the team." JJ stuttered.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Emily laughed. She took her digital camera out of her purse and began to take pictures of the books and the poster. JJ grabbed the dream diary and went back to the SUV.

She strapped into the passenger side of the vehicle. The notebook had a dark green cover and she stared at it for a long moment trying to tell herself that it wasn't right to read it. Another part of her said that they needed to know everything if they wanted to find him. Silently asking him to forgive her, she opened the diary to the first page.

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Reid unpacked his only change of clothes and hung them in the closet next to the dresser. His mind was whirling, trying to figure out why he was there. He rummaged through his bag and began to panic when he couldn't find the dream diary he'd been keeping for the last two weeks. It wasn't in his messenger bag either.

_Okay Spencer don't freak out. You can figure this out without that notebook. You can remember what you wrote. _

Yeah… he could remember what he wrote, but he wanted to feel the book in his hands, to flip through the pages, hear the whisper of the paper. Okay… he decided that he needed friends… desperately!

He sighed and picked up his messenger bag and stowed it in the closet. He didn't need it where he was going. He picked up a brochure from the desk next to the wash stand. It had a listing of the so called "hot spots" in Sleepy Hollow. There was a map of how to get to the cemetery and the old church. According to the legend as written by Washington Irving, the headless horseman looked for his missing head at night and then he rode to the church where he was buried. He was going to start with the church.

It was weird locking a hotel door with an actual key and he almost couldn't make it work. It took three tries for him to get the key in the lock and turn it. The hallway was empty and it was very quiet in the building. The owner hadn't been kidding, there didn't seem to be anyone there but him. Normally being alone was okay with him, but today it was pretty creepy. How was he going to sleep in this empty place?

At the bottom of the stairs he ran into Jan Van Cleef again. "Mr. Reid, how did you find your accommodations?"

"Ah - the room is fine Mr. Van Cleef. He pushed his hands in his pockets

"Very good… as I said please feel free to call on myself of my wife if you need anything,"

Mr. Van Cleef told him.

"Thank you, sir. Ah - there is one thing I need to ask you. I'm interested in The Old Dutch Church. Can you tell me anything about it?"

"Well it was built in 1685. The land it stands on was originally owned by Frederick Philipse I, Lord of Philipse Manor. Its grave yard is often confused with the separate Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The church walls are two feet thick and composed of local fieldstone. The bell of the church was cast in Holland and shipped to New York. The original bell is still there. The church was restored in 1960 and declared a historical monument in 1961."

This was nothing that wasn't in the brochure that Reid had found on his desk. Too bad the man wasn't willing to give him more information.

"Is it open to the public?" Reid asked casually.

"Yes… you can go inside and look around. I believe the door is always open." Mr. Van Cleef said.

Reid was surprised to hear that. Usually churches were locked at night. There were too many young vandals out there that didn't flinch at desecrating a church.

"Well thank you again. I'll go see it." Reid said. He went out the door and headed to his vehicle. His phone was burning a hole in his pocket, and his stomach was beginning churn again. He should pull it out and make a simple phone call to Hotch.

He got into the truck and pulled out his phone. He looked at it for a long time before deciding that Hotch wouldn't understand. He strapped in and put the key in the ignition. It was a short drive through the village to the Church. Maybe whatever it was that he was looking for would be there.

He drove down the street, and as he got closer to the church, the feeling that he'd had for the last two weeks got stronger again. He was going in the right direction, but where was the feeling taking him and why.

The traffic was light and he got to his destination in a relatively short time. The church faced the street on the left hand side of the road. He parked and looked up at the building. It was a lot smaller than he had imagined. He chuckled at this thought. Of course it wasn't going to be a big building. It was typical of the buildings of the time.

He never realized he had left the car until he was across the road and approaching the stone wall that surrounded the church. He had to walk around it to find the gate. The gate was open and he went through it and back tracked to the front entrance way. As the hotel owner promised, the door was unlocked.

The church was very quiet inside. Reid didn't go to church, but he'd been in enough of them in the course of his job with the BAU to recognize the feeling of comfort and peace that surrounded these kinds of buildings.

He looked around, wondering if there was a guide, or a priest, or someone to ask questions. There didn't seem to be anyone. He was about to turn and leave when a small woman with white hair came through a side door toward the front of the chapel. She sat down in on of the wooden pews. She was muttering to herself, and as he got closer he could hear her reciting the 23rd psalm.

He was about to back away from her when she said without turning around. "Leave this place Spencer Reid. You're in great danger here."


	5. Answers, or more questions

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from CM or Washington Irving. Only my own characters are my own. No copyright infringement is intended. _

_**Answers or more questions?**_

The team set up in the conference room. The trick was to think of this as if it were any other victim and un-sub, but everyone present knew that it was not like any other case. Hotch's mouth was set in grim lines as he watched JJ place a photograph of Reid on the white board. Emily and Garcia were setting up the pictures Emily had transferred from her camera to JJ's laptop. Morgan was staring at the laptop with an angry expression. Gideon's glasses were perched on his nose and seemed to reflect back the concern that had filled his dark eyes.

"Okay… so we know that Reid left his apartment under his own power and apparently of his own free will. Hotch are you sure he didn't talk to you and tell you where he was going. If he asked for time off and didn't want us to know where he was going because he just wanted to be left alone…" Gideon asked.

"He didn't call me or ask for time off. It isn't like him to just pick up and leave without telling anyone. The neighbor said that he left of his own freewill, but what if he got a call or someone threatened his mother if he didn't do as he was told. There is any number of things that could have happened that we don't know about." Hotch replied.

"Gideon what do you make of these pictures?" Morgan asked as the photos from Reid's room appeared on the white board. "It looks to me like he's doing some kind of research on Sleepy Hollow. That drawing on the wall is giving me the creeps. How was he sleeping with that thing hanging there? Why Sleepy Hollow? The headless horseman is a myth from a story. I don't get it."

"Yeah it looks like he's planning some big Halloween prank or party." Garcia interjected and got a glare from Hotch for her pains. "What… maybe he and his Comic-Con friends are planning something for Halloween and he doesn't want anyone to know about it." She said indignantly.

"That's not what's happening here." JJ piped up. She went red under the gaze of Hotch who was staring at her with a question in his eyes.

"What do you know?" Gideon asked.

She pulled the green covered notebook from beneath the file on the table in front of her. "I found this at Reid's apartment…"

"What is it?" Morgan asked, looking at her very curiously.

"Um… It's a dream diary. He started it two weeks ago." She kept her eyes on the diary. Her face was still hot. Morgan would have a field day with this. Maybe she shouldn't have looked at it. Maybe she should've given it to Hotch or Gideon.

"A dream diary," Morgan reached for the notebook, but JJ pulled it away.

"Yeah… he started having nightmares again, only these were different, they truly frightened him. It's the same thing every night. A dream about a man dressed in early 19th century clothing, being chased by a headless horseman, and at the end the man is badly hurt or killed by the apparition." She spoke directly to Gideon and watched the older man's reaction.

"You've got to be kidding me. Reid is having dreams about Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman." Morgan scoffed.

JJ flipped open the book. "Well… obviously I don't read as fast as Reid, but the entries I scanned make it sound like Reid was Ichabod Crane. It really scared him. The very last page said that he was beginning to feel like he had to go to Sleepy Hollow, that it was important for him to be there. That's all I know." She put the notebook down and when Morgan made to pick it up she didn't stop him.

"I can't believe this. Reid is a rational man; he wouldn't just pick up and leave." Morgan said passing the notebook to Gideon.

"No… he wouldn't… that's what worries me." Hotch looked up at the picture of the drawing from the wall of Reid's bedroom.

"So are we saying that Reid went to Sleepy Hollow," Emily asked incredulously.

"We have to assume that he did, there's no other explanation." Gideon observed as he flipped through the pages of the notebook.

"Garcia, can you do a run on his credit cards, see if he's used them. See if you can trace his cell phone." Hotch said to the tech maven perched on a chair next to Gideon.

"Sure thing, I'll get right on it. I'll find him and he'll be home for dinner." She promised in a cheery voice. She left the room in a cloud of something strawberry and the rest looked at each other.

"I gotta say Gideon… I don't know where to start." Morgan said with a sigh and Emily nodded her head in agreement.

"We start with the diary and these pictures. It's all we have, wheels up in thirty minutes." Hotch left the room and the others only looked at one another.

"So that's it… we're going to fly to New York," Emily asked.

"You heard Hotch." Gideon responded and he left the room. Morgan and Emily followed him, and JJ was bringing up the rear when she noticed that Gideon had left the notebook on the table. She stopped and looked at it. He never left anything like this lying around unless there was a reason.

_No… you are not going to look at it again. You already violated his privacy once today. _

She reached out for the book and picked it up. Yeah… it was true that she'd betrayed a friend, but they had to know where he was. She had to know where he was. Some deep part of her was very afraid, more afraid than she'd ever been, even in the face of his "death" at the hands of Tobias Henkel. They had to find him!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reid was startled and a little intrigued when the old woman spoke to him. He walked to the front of the church on silent shoes, and when he drew abreast of the woman she turned look at him. He was truly taken aback to see that she was blind. Her eyes were filmy and white. She didn't look at him with the unfocused eyes of a blind woman. Instead she pinned him with her gaze as though she could see him.

"Ah - ma'am do I know you?" He asked after the thumping of his heart quieted to a level that he could hear his thoughts.

_What a ridiculous question! Of course you don't know her. You've never seen her before in your life!_

She wore a dark green knitted cardigan over a blue buttoned blouse. Her flowered skirt was stained at the knees and she wore brown and clucky orthopedic shoes. She didn't have a cane or a Seeing Eye dog he noted. Strange!

"No young man… we've met only in the visions I've seen. You come to Sleepy Hollow a stranger, but you don't understand the forces that compel you to be here." She continued to stare up at him and he felt sweat pop up on his forehead.

"Ma'am I'm very sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else."

She was probably a harmless lunatic, but why encourage her. Was this what his mother would be if he hadn't shut her away? Would she be wandering the streets, and bothering people with signs and portents that only she could see?

He shook his head as though there were water in his ears from too much time in the swimming pool. "You mother doesn't blame you for what you did. In the core of her being she knows you only did what you had to do." The woman said.

"What do you know about my mother?" He said more loudly then he intended.

"You're mother isn't the issue here. You are the one I must warn. You must stay away from this place." She got to her feet as smoothly as a woman half her age. She walked past Reid and he put a hand on her arm.

"What do you know? You have to tell me!" He demanded.

"I only know that you must leave this place tonight before it is too late. I have seen your death Spencer Reid. Beware the full moon!" She pulled away with more strength than he thought possible, and she left the church walking as confidently as a fully sighted person.

"What was that all about?" He asked himself, and then he wondered why he wasn't going after her. He ran back down the aisle and out the side door. He looked all over the grounds, but she was gone. It was like she'd just disappeared into thin air. Maybe she had, nothing would surprise him today.

"What am I doing here?" He wondered again.

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"Mr. Van Tassel… Mr. Van Wart is here to see you sir." The servant informed his master.

Samuel Van Wart entered the library of the spacious Van Tassel home. There were bookcases that reached all the way to the twenty foot ceiling. The carpet was lush and dark brown. The furniture was family antiques going back to the original farm of the Van Tassel family.

The estate was large, surrounded by twelve foot cast iron fences. The house was restored to its original state with added rooms and modern comforts. There were lush lawns surrounding the home, and in the back of the estate there were still woods that survived from colonial times. There was plenty of privacy for rituals and worship of the old religion.

"Samuel… do you have good news for me." William asked.

Van Wart took the offered seat next to the Guardians' High Lord. "Yes my lord. He has arrived safely."

"Good… have our friend keep an eye on him." Van Tassel ordered. He took a sip of the tea in the cup beside his chair. "Tell him to keep his distance till it's time. We can't risk spooking him."

"I have seen him, he's harmless." Van Wart said contemptuously.

"He is stronger than he looks. He resisted the call longer than any of his blood line has in the past. Do not underestimate him." Van Tassel warned. He drained the rest of his tea and set the bone china cup down on it's saucer with a low clink.

"He has already had an encounter with the witch." Van Wart explained his mouth grimaced as though he'd just tasted a lemon.

"What did she tell him?" Van Tassel asked, not looking in the least concerned.

"The usual… I don't think he took her seriously."

"Even so… keep an eye on her as well. We can't enter her house, it is protected otherwise I should like to see her out of the way for good. She has tried to interfere in this one time too many."

"You're right your lordship."

"Now go… see to the final preparations. It will soon be time for young Reid to join us."

"Begging your Lordship's pardon, but is it wise to terminate his line. When he is gone…"

"We don't have a choice and you know it!" Van Tassel snapped. All trace of genteel good breeding was gone. "We have to do what we have to do to survive."

"I'm sorry my Lord, but I'm afraid." Van Wart said respectfully.

"I know my friend, I too am afraid? Now go take care of the final preparations."

Van Wart left the library and Van Tassel to his thoughts. He stared into the fire that was burning in the grate of the large fireplace. Perhaps this was the year the curse would be broken!


	6. Help is on the way

_A/n the poetry and the words on a headstone come from the radio program I have of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The brillance of that writing is the talent of the authors, not mine._

_Disclaimer: No copy right infringement is intended as I own only my own characters._

_**Help is on the way**_

The flight to New York was very short. There was just enough time to get comfortable and start throwing ideas around.

The team was gathered around JJ's laptop talking to Garcia. "I traced his credit card. He isn't trying to hide where he went. There is a charge for gas and snacks at Mom and Pops just off of I-87 North. The only other charge was made at an inn called The Horseman's Rest."

"What about his cell phone Garcia?" Hotch wanted to know.

"It's turned off so you won't be able to track him that way if he isn't at the inn." She informed him soberly her flirty attitude gone for the moment. "I have an open trap on it, so if he turns it on, I'll have his location faster than you can say Ichabod Crane."

"Thanks baby-girl." Morgan said and the team looked at each other. There was no mystery here. They knew where Reid was, so why was there such a feeling of dread in the air.

Gideon was paging through the diary again and Morgan was looking at the photos Emily had taken in Reid's room.

"I still can't understand why he would just go off on his own." Morgan was saying. "After what happened in Georgia, you would think he would know better."

"We need to focus on this case, not what's happened in the past." Gideon said not bothering to look up at Morgan.

Emily opened her mouth and then closed it again, whatever Reid was dealing with after Georgia had worked itself out. He was returning to the person she remembered from when she was brand new on the team. Then she frowned over her copies of the photos.

_What if things weren't okay? What if he was hiding it well?_

Did the PTSD he'd suffered from go away without help? She didn't think that it did. So what was going on with him?

"The dream diary makes it clear that Reid felt like he had to go to Sleepy Hollow. He says that the dreams won't leave him alone and that even though it isn't rational, he has to find out why the dreams haunt him." Gideon said reading from the middle of the notebook.

"He's trying to prove that he isn't becoming schizophrenic like his mother." Hotch said looking at Gideon resigned eyes.

"Yes," Gideon said simply.

"How will we find him, if he isn't at the hotel?" Morgan asked impatiently.

"We use what we know about him and what we know about the story of the headless horseman."

"You know who we could use on this." Morgan said. The others looked at each other. Reid was the one that knew all there was to know about trivia and statistics.

"Yeah… but we don't have him, we'll have to figure this out on our own," Gideon pointed out, laying the diary down on the table in front of him.

"I'll get on the phone with Garcia. She can find out all we need to know about the story and the town." Morgan said. He stood and moved to the back of the plane.

"We'll start at the Horseman's Rest. Maybe the owner can tell us where Reid might have gone or places that he was interested in seeing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reid took another walk around the outside of the church before admitting that the old woman had disappeared. How had a blind woman moved so fast? She must be very familiar with the church yard and the area. Still… it was strange.

He noticed a gate at the back of the churchyard. It was wrought iron just like the rest of the fence around the church. It was a graveyard. The brochure he read said that this was the graveyard mentioned in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." It was generally believed that this was where the Hessian soldier was buried and where he rose from every night to look for his missing head.

The cemetery was like any other of the period. The one difference was the high gate and electronic lock. A sign was posted giving the hours that the graveyard was open to the public. The summer hours extended to seven pm. The cemetery closed at five pm in the winter.

He walked further into the graveyard. There were old white markers made from stone. The dates and the names were crumbled on some of them. It was obvious as he walked along the yellowed grass, that the cemetery was well taken cared of, but nothing could reverse the ravages of time and the elements. Dead and brownish yellow leaves crunched under his feet. The thin jacket he wore wasn't doing a good job of keeping out the chill of the fall day. A breeze picked up and ruffled his hair. It was gentle, like the hand of a lover.

_Right genius… what would you know about that. All you have is your own imagination and one fun night at a bar with the team before…. Don't think about that! It's over… you killed Tobias… let it go._

He shivered and in the distance a dog began to bark. He jumped and whipped around, but the dog was no where to be seen. He let out a breath he'd been holding when oxygen became an issue. Still… he thought he heard the sound of cornstalks on the wind.

Okay… stop scaring yourself and get this over with, so we can go home and …what… there was nothing urgent for him to go back to. He should just stay here. He walked on, not paying attention to where he was walking and by some quirk of insight, managed not to trip over a headstone right in his path. It was one of the old white headstones, but unlike the others it was clearly read.

Here lies Katrina Van Tassel

Born 1798-Died 1818

It pleased God to take my life when he thought best.

He was dumbfounded for a moment, standing in the chill of the afternoon, before his memory kicked in and he realized this must be the model for Washington Irving's Katrina. It is said that it was the names of headstones that gave him names for his stories. He wondered if that were true, or was the legend true.

Another chill ran through him that had nothing to do with the breeze blowing over and around his thin body and his bare face. The legend was just that, a legend, but hadn't he once heard Morgan say that all legends have bit of truth in them. If that was the case, what was the truth in the legend of the headless horseman?

He moved on to another headstone to the right of the one he'd almost stumbled over. This section of the graveyard was marked off and there were many head stones to the Van Tassel family. It looked to him as though the family was wealthy. That explained the good care of the headstones. Many New England families were very interested in family history and preserving the memories of generations past. If his memory was correct and there was no question of that, wasn't the Van Tassel family in the story one of the wealthier families in Sleepy Hollow?

He stepped over a low stone marker at the edge of the Van Tassel plot and looked at his watch. He saw that is was afternoon. His stomach was rumbling from hunger despite the cookies he'd eaten on the way up from Virginia. Perhaps he should go find a local café and have something to eat and then come back. There was more to see here that might help him weed out the exaggerations from the fact of the story. Then maybe he would know why he was drawn to this place.

He eyes strayed to lone headstone in one corner of the cemetery. It was leaning to the right and was partially covered with moss and the dirt of the years. He walked over to it drawn again by a power he didn't understand. He got close enough to stoop over and clear away some of the dirt that covered the surface of the stone. It read:

_Reader behold as you pass by_

_As you are, so once was I_

_As I am now, so you must be_

_Prepare for death, and follow me_

Another chill slid down his spine, deeper than the coldest part of winter. The words were familiar but he couldn't place where he'd read or heard them before. It was strange, his eidetic memory should be able to grant recall, but this time his brain failed him. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and his thumb was hovering over the end button to turn it on and call Garcia, when his brain reengaged and reminded him that he was in this alone.

He knew that they were going to look for him; maybe they were already on their way. He couldn't make it easy for them. He had to do this alone. His stomach gave another protest as he put his phone away in the pocket of his jacket and he turned around to leave. He didn't see the man standing behind him and so he nearly knocked him to the ground.

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Alexandra Jansen took the cup of fresh mint tea to the small table by her kitchen window. Her unseeing eyes didn't see the people pass by on the quiet side street. Her family had lived here since the founding of Sleepy Hollow. The old ones, as she was taught to call them, had been angered by the settlement of the white man. It was said that their medicine men had put a curse on the town's people.

She stirred in three spoonfuls of sugar into the green tinted brew in front of her. The mint grew year round in the small herb garden she tended in the window of her kitchen. She made all of her own remedies and medicines just as her mother and grandmother had made them. The recipes had been handed down. They even survived the witch hunts of the late 17th century.

She took a sip of the hot liquid and while it was good to the taste, and soothing to the nerves, she couldn't get that young man out of her mind. He was completely unprepared to meet what was coming for him. She put the cup down on the saucer and drew her green sweater around her shoulders. Suddenly, as if a live wire had come in contact with her body, she stiffened and dropped back in her chair. Her head lolled to one side and her hands shook as though it was the depth of winter inside the small house.

Long minutes passed and when her head snapped forward again, some small measure of hope for the young man had returned to her heart. There were strangers on their way to Sleepy Hollow. It was the young man's family, his true family. Maybe they would have the power to stop what the so-called Guardians had planned for Dr. Spencer Reid. They were strong this group. The oldest of them had the bond of father with the young agent. The leader of the group was a hard and unfeeling man on the outside, but on the inside he cared deeply for the young man almost like a father. The dark haired woman had once doubted Spencer Reid, hurtful words had been exchanged and she hadn't trusted him for a long time, but now the trust was slowly building within her. The third man was as close as a brother to the young agent. The young blond agent loved Spencer, but she refused to admit it to herself, even so it was a powerful weapon if acknowledged.

The team would have to put aside their ideas of science, and psychology, to help the young man. She couldn't do anything but warn him. She was too old and feeble to save him from the ones that would sacrifice him to their infernal demons. Her powers were too weak, and she was the last of her line just like the young man.

She picked up the cup and sipped at the rapidly cooling liquid. Her eyes returned to the window and the sunlight streamed onto her face. It was warm on her face, but her eyes saw only the visions of the terrible things to come if his 'family' didn't intervene.


	7. Reid hears the real story

A/n I mention in this story that the Old Dutch Church doesn't have a congregation. In real life it does, but I changed that for my own purposes. Many thanks to all who have reviewed the story or added it to their alerts. Also, thank you to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC.

Disclaimer: I own only my own characters. Anything from CM or Washington Irving is not mine. No copyright infringement is intended.

_**Reid hears the "real" story**_

He knew that they were going to look for him; maybe they were already on their way. He couldn't make it easy for them. He had to do this alone. His stomach gave another protest as he put his phone away in the pocket of his jacket and he turned around to leave. He didn't see the man standing behind him and so he nearly knocked him to the ground.

The young red haired man put a hand out to steady Reid. "Sorry man… I didn't mean to sneak up on you."

When Reid's heart beat returned to normal, he assured the man that he was fine. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

The young man in front of him had dark blues eyes. They were the same shade as JJ's. He shook himself at the thought of her, and the other man regarded him curiously as he stood there with his hands in his pockets. The man wore a light blue jacket and grey chinos. His shoes were blue Converse the exact same brand of shoes Reid happened to be wearing that day.

"No problem. I'm what you would call a guide. The church doesn't have a congregation, but we get a lot of visitors. You must have just missed the last big group of tourists. I wish they'd keep better track of their kids when they come to places like this. Those kids think Halloween is an excuse to knock over headstones and write foul words on the mausoleums." He spoke with a happy go lucky tone that was very engaging.

"You're not from around here, are you?" The man asked Reid. He pulled a pack of menthol cigarettes from his pocket.

"No…" Reid responded, watching the man light the cigarette with a long, pencil shaped lighter.

The man saw that Reid was looking at his lighter and he grinned at the agent. "This was a gift from my mother if you can believe it. It was special made in Italy, pure sterling silver."

"Ah - listen… I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me." Reid stammered, he decided that it didn't matter if the man thought he was nuts.

"Let me guess… you want to know if the headless horseman is real."

His hands went clammy and some unknown fear pushed the blood hard through his veins. The young man held out a hand to Reid. "My name is Roger De Vries. My family's lived in Sleepy Hollow since it was first colonized. I can tell you all you want to know about this village and the headless horseman. What's your name?"

Reid took the man's hand tentatively and shook it. "My name is Spencer Reid, and no, I'm not from around here."

"I didn't think so," De Vries observed as he flicked a bit of ash from the end of his cigarette. He gestured in the direction of the church.

"Come on… it's too cold to stand around here." As if the wind could hear him, a gust pushed over the two of them and Reid began to shiver under his jacket. He should've worn his usual long sleeved shirt and sweater for this outing.

De Vries jerked his head again in the general direction of the church. "I've got some coffee brewing in the office."

The two men made their way back to the churchyard. The sky was turning grey as clouds began to move into the area. The wind was picking up again and Reid looked at his watch. His stomach gave a loud grumble when they crossed the threshold of the church. De Vries shut the door behind him and pointed to an alcove Reid hadn't seen when he'd been in the church the first time.

"That's my office over there. It's a cracker box, but its home." He said with laugh.

Reid followed him into the office and saw that De Vries was right. There were two chairs, one hard backed and wooden in front of the desk, and the other leather and much more comfortable looking, behind the desk. There was a tall cabinet to the left of the desk, and just inside the door stood a table with a hot plate, and a pot of wonderful smelling coffee steaming on top.

De Vries motioned for him to sit down. He went to the hard backed chair and tried to get comfortable. "We've got the best deli in New York down the street. It's the best kept secret in the state. The knuckle heads in the big city think they corner the market on a good deli sandwich, but they don't know what they're talking about. You want something to eat?"

"Ah - I don't know…"

"Trust me… you won't be disappointed. What would you like?"

Reid decided that the man wasn't going to take no for an answer, so he gave in and decided on ham and Swiss on wheat bread. De Vries picked up the phone and called in the order. He got roast beef and cheddar on sourdough bread.

"The sandwiches will be here in a few minutes. Lets have a cup of coffee, and I'll fill you in on everything I know about the legend." He opened one of the file cabinet drawers. When he turned around there were two coffee cups in his hands.

He grinned at the way Reid was looking at him. "I know it's dumb, but I lose my coffee cups if I don't keep them in here. I'll give them a quick rinse in the bathroom sink." He left the room and Reid began to look around the small room.

It was utilitarian rather than welcoming. There were none of the usual things you might see at a desk. He didn't see any pictures of family or friends. There was a plaque on the wall behind the desk commemorating the establishment of the church as a historical landmark in 1961.

"Here we are. I daresay a hot cup of coffee would warm us both." De Vries reentered the room and startled Reid from his thoughts.

"Do you like cream or sugar?" De Vries asked fiddling with the coffee cup

"Just sugar is fine," Reid said.

De Vries fixed his cup with cream only, and gave Reid his sweetened coffee before sitting down. "Now… let me tell you all about what I know of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

He leaned back in his chair and sipped on the hot coffee. "Washington Irving only knew part of the story. You see.. the man known in the story as Ichabod Crane was a gold digger. If you read the story, Irving tells us that Ichabod Crane was wooing Katrina Van Tassel and that they had a falling out after a Harvest party. He then left on horseback, and the only thing that was found the next morning was a smashed pumpkin and the saddle that belonged to the farmer that lent him the horse.

"Katrina did send him away. She knew he had designs on her father's wealth. She never had real intentions of taking him anyway. She loved the man you know as Bram Bones. She was trying to make Bram jealous enough to finally ask her to marry him. The fact is that the supposed attack of the headless horseman was Mr. Bones on his horse. He wanted to scare Ichabod Crane into leaving. He was successful and the school teacher was never seen in Sleepy Hollow again. So you see the headless horseman is a myth,"

Reid put his empty cup on the desk. "So you're saying that the townspeople made up a specter to rid themselves of a less than likable schoolmaster." He asked skeptically. There was something in De Vries eyes that had Reid suspicious. The man was leaving something out, or lying about something.

"No… most of the residents of our fair village believed in the headless horseman and some still do."

"So what was the genesis of the legend? Where did the headless horseman come from," Reid asked?

"There was a Hessian trooper killed in the battle of White Plains. He was beheaded by a cannonball. He was buried in the church and if he's ever risen, I've never seen it. There is also a legend that says that a witch doctor cursed this land and the families of the founding fathers. The original inhabitants of this land weren't happy when the white man came here. I don't blame them. My ancestors weren't exactly the sharing type."

A chill had entered Reid's heart, and he was perplexed. It was a simple enough tale, but why did it persist in its power nearly two and a half centuries later and why was he here if there was nothing to it as De Vries claimed.

There was a knock at the door and De Vries got up from his chair. "It would appear that our food has arrived." He opened the door and greeted a short blond woman, carrying a white bag. She was about forty and very plump. Her eyes were as gray as the skies had been outside and she smiled widely at Spencer.

"Here's your order Mr. De Vries." She handed him the bag. He put it on the desk and reached for his wallet. He gave her a few bills and she nodded her head at him.

"Have a nice day Delores." He called after her when she left.

Reid turned away and reached for his empty cup to pour more coffee. He didn't see the needle in De Vries hand, but he felt it go into his neck and then everything was dizzy and black.

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"The pilot says we should be landing soon." Hotch said, coming back up from the cockpit. They'd been caught in a busy pattern over La Guardia, and they had been circling the airport for half an hour.

"It's about time. I didn't think small jets like ours had to wait their turn to land." Morgan was complaining.

"Of course they do. Didn't you ever see Airport '75? There was a jetliner that got into a mid air collision with a private plane, and during the course of the movie the private plane had to wait their turn to land. I think that's what caused the crash. I don't really remember." Emily said as everyone stared at her.

"What…" She asked, looking confused.

"You sounded like Reid there for a moment. It was creepy." Morgan explained and they all nodded.

"Thanks… I think!" She said looking just a little put out.

The pilot announced they were next in line and they began to gather up files and personal items. As they were there looking for Reid, and Hotch hadn't wanted to give Erin Strauss any reason to come after the team, they rented an SUV instead of meeting a local agent. They would contact the police when they arrived in Sleepy Hollow.

The drive from the airport out of New York to I-287 and beyond was a nightmare. The traffic was snarled up by a three car pile up ahead of them.

They inched along at a stop and go crawl that was getting on JJ's nerves. She tried one more time to call Reid's cell, but it was useless. "Can't we put on the siren Hotch?" She asked him. He pinned her with his dark eyes in the rearview mirror.

"It won't help; we'd just sit here annoying people. No one is going anywhere, anytime soon." Their forward motion had stopped all together.

_It's almost like someone or something is trying to stop them from getting to Reid. _

That was a ridiculous idea. Reid was fine. The others would think her crazy if she voiced those thoughts.

Then they were past the blocked traffic and it looked like smooth sailing. JJ looked at her watch and saw that they were an hour and half past schedule.

A hand touched her arm and she looked over to see Emily watching her. "He'll be okay." She said softly, but JJ could see that the other agent didn't believe her own words. She looked out the window and watched buildings and trees dressed for fall flashing by. Something was very wrong and she was sure they were already too late.


	8. The team arrives

_A/n thanks again to all who take the time to review this story. I also must thank my beta REIDFANATIC. She catches all of my big mistakes and lets me bounce all my crazy ideas off her._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from CM or Washington Irving only my own characters._

_**The team arrives**_

The sun was down by the time the team reached Sleepy Hollow. The sky was purple with pink and red tones at the edges of the gray clouds. A few tiny stars were seen at the darkest edges of the sky. The winds were pushing the trees back and forth along the edges of the streets, and between the homes of the neighborhood.

Several children in Halloween costumes ran and skipped along the concrete sidewalk. Shadows teased the kids and their adult companions as though the veil between worlds had ripped and let through the spirits of the night. There were ghosts in white sheets with eyeholes cut for them. There were several Harry Potters, Supermen and Spider men. There were princesses, and witches, and many other super heroes.

Most of the homes were decorated with Goblins, Frankenstein figures and the Headless Horseman. There were jack-o-lanterns lit from within. The flames danced inside the hollowed out pumpkins, making them look like they were alive and leering crazily in the darkening light.

"Well…it certainly looks the part." Emily commented dryly.

"You can't blame them for making the most of the holiday. I'll bet the legend of the headless horseman brings in a lot of money this time of year." Morgan said.

"It certainly looks that way." JJ added, looking out the window of the SUV.

"Morgan… you and I are going to the inn. Maybe we'll get lucky and find him there," Gideon said.

"We'll drop you off and head out to meet with Detective Stone." Hotch said to Gideon.

Emily continued to watch the groups of children moving through the rapidly darkening streets. One group veered off and approached a house painted an unfortunate shade of light blue. She wanted to smile at the kids, but memories of her own childhood came back to her. She had lived in so many different places. There wasn't much chance for the daughter of a diplomat to go trick-or-treating.

Morgan pulled his cell from his belt when it rang. "Talk to me baby girl." He said wearily.

"I was checking into Reid's credit card. He rented a car from United Car rental yesterday. It's a 2007 Chevy Cobalt, light brown. The license plate number is ANP739."

'It sounds perfect for Reid, boring and dependable." Morgan said

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Anything else," Morgan asked, his eyes following the children on the sidewalks.

"Nope, but I'll keep digging gorgeous."

"Thanks baby." He snapped the phone shut and relayed the information to the rest of the team.

"Good," Hotch said from the driver's seat. "At least we know what vehicle to look for when we get to the hotel."

JJ started to watch the kids in the waning light of the sunset. The purple of the sky was turning to black and the wind was blowing steadily through the trees. The dark clouds in the sky were glowering and she wondered if Reid was at his hotel, or was he somewhere in trouble or out in the cold. She shivered at the thought and pulled her jacket closer around her neck in spite of the heat blowing through the vents of the car

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The sky was completely dark purple when they reached the reached the Horseman's Rest. Morgan and Gideon exited the SUV and headed to the gate. Morgan was looking for Reid's car and didn't see the group of kids on the sidewalk. He turned back and almost bowled over a very small girl dressed as a gypsy. She wore a white peasant blouse with a black knit sweater. The skirt she wore was a brightly patterned with red, orange and purple flowers. A scarf was wound around her head with a bit of dark brown hair peeping out from under it. She looked up and up at him and squealed in terror. She and two other little girls ran away down the street before he could say anything.

"Morgan… what are you doing?" Gideon called back to him from half way up the path to the door.

"Sorry got distracted for a minute. I don't see Reid's rental car." Morgan huffed as he jogged up to join Gideon.

"I know… he didn't come all the way up here by himself for an impromptu vacation." Gideon said as they stood there facing one another. It was getting even colder now that the sun was down. The clouds were getting pushed across the sky by the approaching storm front.

"I don't like the looks of the weather." Morgan said worriedly.

"Yeah… me either." Gideon agreed. "Come on… let's go talk to the owner."

Morgan followed the older agent down the pathway and up the stairs to the porch and the door of the inn. Gideon opened the door at the same time Morgan heard the scrape of a footstep behind him. He whipped around, but no one was there. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it throbbing in his head. Why was he so jumpy? It was the holiday, he thought as he followed Gideon through the door and into the lobby of the small inn. How could it be the holiday? He never believed in any of the Halloween nonsense.

Gideon spoke to a very old looking man who was watching them carefully from behind the desk next to the wooden staircase. The senior agent was displaying his badge to the man who was wide eyed.

"I'm Special Agent Jason Gideon and this Special Agent Derek Morgan. We're looking for Dr. Spencer Reid." He informed the man, watching him carefully. He showed the man a picture of Spencer and the man began to smile.

"Well… he didn't tell me he was a doctor, but he does have a room here tonight." Van Cleef informed them with a sweet smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Do you know if he's come back here this evening?" Morgan asked. He leaned over the desk and looked at the register.

"No… I don't think so… but then I don't baby sit my guests." He said tightly, his hand clenching the old fashioned pen Reid had used to sign the register.

Gideon smiled kindly at the old man. "I don't expect you do. May we see his room?"

"May I ask why you want to see his room?" Van Cleef asked, shifting the pen to his other hand.

"Dr Reid is a colleague of ours and we have reason to believe that he didn't come to Sleepy Hollow of his own free will." Gideon said in the same maddeningly calm tone, while his dark eyes bore in to Van Cleef.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're implying." Van Cleef answered, putting the pen back down on the desk and folding his hands in front of him looking serene.

"It doesn't matter what you think, we need to get into his room." Morgan said through gritted teeth.

"Of course," Van Cleef said with a shrug. He handed Gideon a key and gestured to the stairs. "The room is on the second floor." He went back to fiddling with the pen and smiling brightly at them.

Morgan followed Gideon up the stairs. They went down the hallway and at the far end they found room thirteen.

"I thought hotels don't have thirteenth floors, or room thirteen, I thought it was bad luck." Morgan asked Gideon as the older agent knocked on the door.

"They don't, but I suspect that the owner of this establishment would think it whimsical to have a room thirteen. This is the home of the most well known ghost story in America. He's cashing in on the legend and superstition.

Gideon knocked again and he said through the door. "Reid… its Gideon and Morgan, are you in there?" He looked over at Morgan and the younger agent shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay… let's go inside and see what we find."

They pushed open the door and Morgan hit the lights. It was a small room and it was bare. Morgan noticed Reid's messenger bag on the chair in front of the desk. He picked it up and it felt as heavy to him as it always did when he would move it on the plane, or when they roomed together in the field.

Gideon was looking through the closet and didn't find anything unusual. There didn't seem to be anything there to clue them into where Reid had gone. Morgan was going through the desk drawers when he found a brochure for The Old Dutch Church and the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

"Hey Gideon… check this out." Morgan handed the older agent the brochure.

Gideon perused the brochure quickly and handed it back to Morgan with raised eyebrows. "This looks like the best place to start."

They looked around again at the room and Morgan took a quick look at the bathroom, but there was nothing else there to help them find their friend.

Morgan was beginning to feel the ice creep into his heart. He couldn't help but think back to that dark night in another cemetery when they had found Reid next to the dead body of Tobias Henkel. His young partner had survived torture, drugging and death itself. Reid had gotten himself out of that jam…he'd killed the man that was going to kill him and bury him in an unmarked grave in the woods.

"Morgan…" Gideon was staring at him with a question in his eyes.

"He didn't take his messenger bag with him. When was the last time you saw him without it?" Morgan asked.

"I know… I don't see anything that indicates that he left here against his will. Something was important enough for him to go off without any of his personal belongings besides his room key, wallet and car keys."

They left the room and went down to the lobby. The old man wasn't at the desk. Gideon rang the bell but Van Cleef didn't respond.

"Great customer service," Morgan groused. They waited for five minutes and then they headed out the door into the night.

Van Cleef came into the lobby two minutes later. The smile that he wore like a badge fell from his face and he reached for the phone on the desk. It was an old-fashioned rotary phone. He picked up the hand set and began to dial.

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JJ exited the SUV last when they had parked in front of the police precinct. The wind pushed her hair around her shoulders and into her face. There was a very tall man standing on the sidewalk, his back to the light from the building. He stepped into the light and Emily saw that he had black hair and bight blue eyes, an odd combination that was startling and attractive.

"You must be Agent Hotchner." He addressed Hotch. "I'm Detective James Stone." He held out a hand to Hotch. Hotch introduced Emily and JJ to the detective, and they were just about to go into the building when there was a sound behind them.

"Agent Hotchner, I know where Spencer Reid is. You have to save him from the darkness that holds this town in its grip."

JJ spun around and saw a very old women standing next to the SUV. The woman walked closer and JJ was floored to see that the woman was blind. How did she know them? What was going on?

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Van Tassel put down his phone and regarded the man sitting next to him. "We have a problem. There are federal agents in town looking for the young Dr. Reid. Van Cleef has just told me they were at the hotel looking for him.

"My Lord… they won't find him in time. The ritual is only hours away and they have no idea where to look."

"Still… I want you to watch them. I'm sure they will be talking to the local police." Van Tassel said picking up his pipe.

"As you wish," The man said. Van Tassel watched his friend leave the library. He looked at the clock and realized it was time for him to get ready for the party his wife insisted they give every year. No matter… at least he wouldn't have to change his clothes again for the ritual.


	9. The Witch's Tale

_A/n many thanks to all who have reveiwed this story. The tale of the headless horseman has been tweaked by me to fit where I am going with this. The speech of the witch in this is very formal but that is how I imagine her to speak, sorry if it bothers anyone._

_Disclaimer: I own only my own characters. If I did own CM, Morgan would be my personal bodyguard and Reid would be my willing love slave!_

_**The Witch's Tale **_

JJ watched the blind woman approach the group. The woman looked directly at her and she felt as though her soul had been read in an instant and she'd been found wanting. Then the eyes found Hotch. He didn't flinch at her as she glared at him.

"Ms Jansen, what are you doing out alone tonight, it's dangerous." Detective Stone asked. JJ glanced up at his tone, but the blind woman didn't back down.

"Hold your tongue Charles! I have important business with these people."

She took another step closer to Hotch and he held his ground at her approach. Energy seemed to surround the woman like an invisible magnetic field. JJ saw that none of them, including the detective, could take their eyes off her.

"Ma'am… I don't know what -" Hotch started to say.

"I know you don't, but I have a dire warning for you. Your youngest agent is in mortal danger. He refused to heed my warning and now he is in their hands." She was looking, or staring directly at Detective Stone.

The feeling JJ had, that the old woman could see them in spite of the cataracts over her eyes, got all mixed up with the feeling of dread she had at the woman's words. Her stomach was turning to acid and she felt nauseous.

"Ms Jansen… I need you to leave. These are federal agents and they have important business here." Detective Stone said in a very impatient tone.

"No… I want to hear what she has to say." JJ said.

Morgan raised his eyebrows, but she ignored him. She gently took the arm of the old woman. Detective Stone felt the heat of the media liaison's gaze and Emily smirked behind her hand. Abruptly JJ's expression softened and she spoke quietly to the detective.

"My job is to be a liaison for the team, and the media, and law enforcement. I do what I can to smooth the way for these agents. Why don't I talk to Ms Jansen and you can speak with my teammates?" She smiled winningly at the detective, but he scowled.

"Fine… just be warned not to believe what the old witch tells you!" He spat out. He turned suddenly and led them into the building without another word. Hotch maintained a straight face, but his eyes were smiling at JJ as she passed him with the old woman.

The detective showed her an empty interrogation room with a careless gesture, and then he led the rest of the team in a different direction.

JJ shut the door on the small room. She watched as the old woman found her chair without help. How did she do it? JJ wondered as she sat across from the woman. The harsh yellow light of the room made Alexandra's face sallow, and she at once looked the age she was.

"Do you need anything, some water perhaps?" JJ asked kindly.

"No… Agent Jareau… I must warn you. I do not have time for pleasantries. You're the only ones that can help Spencer Reid." She overrode JJ when the liaison tried to ask how she knew Reid.

"I will explain, but you must promise to hear me out and not judge me as insane or batty."

JJ sat back in her chair and studied the old woman who was silent. "Okay… I'll listen to what you have to say. I don't have a choice."

"My name is Alexandra Jansen. My family was part of the original settlement of Sleepy Hollow. The women of my line have always had the gift of sight.

When the first Dutch settlers reached here, the natives of this country did not want the white man here. Many of the settlers were killed when they first arrived here. There was much strife and bloodshed. Finally the elders of the settlers decided to take drastic action. They placed a curse on the town to keep outsiders out. If you were a white man you could pass the enchantments, if you were not, you could not. The natives were enraged and their own witch doctor placed a counter curse. He called up a demon from hell to kill for him. Many more died as a result of this new curse. The elders tried to fix this problem as well. They believed in the old ways and religions. They called themselves by a new name, the Guardians.

The Guardians made a deal with the demon that once every generation bloods sacrifice would be made. One family was chosen. They were a family that had wronged the High Lord of the Guardians by trying to steal land from his family. There was to be a marriage of their High Lord's daughter to the first born son of the second most powerful family of the settlement. Just three months after the wedding, the daughter was dead. It was suspected that her husband had poisoned her. There was no proof and her husband was never charged with the death. Her land passed to his hands.

This happened to coincide with the raising of the demon so the Guardians cursed the son-in-law. He didn't die, but married a second time. His wife gave birth to a son and when the son reached adulthood he was sacrificed to the demon. His brothers and sister left the settlement, but once in every generation the first born is called back to be sacrificed.

Agent Reid is the last of this Old Dutch line. He is to be sacrificed tonight as a virgin sacrifice to the infernal demon. You must stop this terrible thing. You must convince your team. Agent Reid's blood must be spilled tonight, but not as a sacrifice. He can banish the demon forever if he spills his own blood willingly over the altar."

The old woman finally stopped for breath, and JJ's brain was spinning. Reid, a sacrifice to some demon, a virgin sacrifice, it had to be some kind of sick joke.

"So you're saying that the headless horse doesn't chase down his victims on horseback, but that he is a demon that demands a blood sacrifice." JJ was flabbergasted and yet somehow she was beginning to believe this old woman. Even so… she couldn't encourage Reid to sacrifice himself, or whatever this old woman expected him to do.

"Yes… the author of the story made up certain elements, but others are true." Alexandra said with total seriousness as she continued to study JJ.

"I know you doubt me." The old woman said. "I can prove to you that I am right and you must heed my words." She closed her eyes and said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "What happened in Georgia was not your fault. You must let go of your guilt. It keeps you from the one thing you want more than anything else. He does not blame you for what happened. He blames himself. He wishes he had not left you alone the night. He is much stronger then any of you think. He fought against the pull of the poison that disturbed young man forced upon him. It trapped him for a time, but he has left it behind. He loves you above all others. He blames himself for institutionalizing his mother. Tell him Jennifer Jareau, that he did only what he had to do. She does not blame him, she loves him."

Alexandra opened her eyes and again pinned the young woman in front of her with her stare. JJ looked away to the top of the table. She couldn't speak, this couldn't be true. It was ridiculous, she knew it was, and yet some deep part of her asked.

_How does she know all of this? How's it possible that this woman had looked into her soul and pulled out all of her deeply buried feelings?_

"I can not help Agent Reid. You have to do that. Even if I were not old and blind, the counter spells against me keep me from the Van Tassel estate. You must understand that my family has tried for centuries to end this curse but we have been unsuccessful.

Your team will find Agent Reid at the Van Tassel estate. You must get to him before midnight. Agent Reid must offer his own blood willingly before midnight, or all is lost. Do you understand me young lady? Do not trust the detective. He will work against you and Dr. Reid."

When silence fell of the room JJ looked up at the old woman but she was gone. The door to the interrogation room was open. She got up and looked out of the door, but the old woman had vanished into thin air!

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"Agent Hotchner, I've got an APB out on your agent's car. So far there's been no sign of the young man. One of my officers has gone to talk to Mr. Van Cleef at the inn."

"We spoke with him, he was pretty unhelpful." Morgan said frowning at the detective who was playing with the ballpoint pen he held in one hand.

"Mr. Van Cleef is distrustful of what he calls the real law. He thinks that technology will be our downfall. He has many strange ideas, but if someone he knows talks to him, I know he will be more forthcoming."

Gideon looked at Morgan and he shrugged his shoulders. "I can understand that, but he's the last person we know of that has had any contact with our agent in this town." The senior agent said calmly.

"We know you're doing you best to help us." Hotch remarked and Emily nearly laughed again when the detective's face brightened a little.

"We have a large tourist population that comes through here in the summer and this time of the year. I'm sorry to say that they tend to get into trouble. I have to ask you, are you sure your agent wants to be found. It just sounds like…" He broke off at the angry and insulted look Morgan was throwing at him, his dark eyes blazing.

"We have reason to believe that Agent Reid is here under duress." Gideon said giving Morgan a warning shake of his head.

The detective set the pen aside and tried to hide the surprise on his face. "I thought you told me that your agent had come here of his own free will."

"We found some items in his apartment that suggest someone, or something was exerting some kind of control over him." Hotch interjected.

"I don't understand, I thought you said there was no sign of struggle at his home." The detective asked. He was keeping his eyes trained on some spot over Gideon's head.

"That's true, but he thought he had to be here. He left Washington DC without calling into the office or telling anyone where he was going. Dr. Reid wouldn't do that unless he felt compelled to come alone or unless someone was threatening him somehow." Hotch explained curtly.

"What kind of threat?" Detective Stone asked trying to sound curious, but it sounded false to Gideon who was continuing to stare at the young man as if he were a new species of animal predator.

Gideon didn't get a chance to answer the man's question. The door opened behind him and JJ came running in.

"Hotch I need to speak to you." Her eye flicked toward the detective and she said, "Can we speak alone?"

"Detective Stone if you don't mind." Hotch said.

"Fine… I need to get on the phone and talk to the officers that went to the Horseman's Rest. Maybe they found something about your agent.

He got up and left the room without looking at anyone, and none of the heard him lock the room from the outside. They were too busy asking JJ about the old woman and what she found out about Reid.

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Detective Stone sat at his desk and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and told the voice at the other end of the phone all that had happened in the precinct. He listened to the instructions the man gave him for the agents. He tried to protest, but the High Lord insisted it had to be handled this way. Detective Stone dropped the phone in its cradle and went to find his partner. They would have to handle this quietly. The agents were armed and he didn't want a fire fight in his precinct.


	10. Nightmares

_A/n again I can't thank everyone enough for all of the support you've given the story. I appreciate and welcome all feedback. There are more tweaks to the Sleepy Hollow legend in this chapter, so consider yourself warned._

_Thanks once again to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC. She puts up with a lot from me and is a great sounding board. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable from CM or Washington Irving. I own only my own characters. _

_**Nightmares**_

Reid's head pounded when his eyes opened. It was dark except for one lone candle fluttering in the darkness around him. His eyes were blurred, and he blinked rapidly against the light. He looked to the right and saw that the candle was right next to wherever he was lying. His left side ached from where he'd lain in one place for who knew how long.

It took awhile but his eyes were begun to adjust to the light. He groaned and turned over onto his back. His stomach heaved at the movement, and he turned back over and vomited. He lost the entire contents of his stomach till he could only dry heave. One hand wiped at his mouth as he turned over onto his back.

His head was still pounding like tiny little men with hammers were beating the inside of his brain. He could feel the pain getting worse with every beat of his heart. If only he could stop the pain. How did one stop the beating of their heart? It wasn't possible, so he decided to try and ignore the pain.

His eyes drifted up to the ceiling of whatever the place was that he was in. Maybe if he sat up the pain would stop. This proved to be a bad idea when he tried, because his head began to spin so rapidly it felt like he had just left the tilt-o-whirl ride at the carnival. He dropped back on where he'd been lying. It felt like a cot of some kind. He ran his hand over it and felt a thin blanket covering the lower half of his body.

He looked up again and saw that the ceiling above his head was some kind of carved stone. There were no visible colors in the stone over his head because the light of the candle was too dim to see anything outside a small golden circle.

His eyes moved around the rest of the room, trying to see anything without actually resorting to getting up off the canvas cot he lay on. There was nothing to see, only dark stone walls on either side of his head. The smell of the room was like a cave. It was musty and earthy. Alone the smell would have been bearable, but the smell from the contents of his stomach that he left on the floor of the room was sickening. He tried not to think of it and was glad of the faint light. Total darkness would have sent him into spasms of horror.

He tried to sit up again and the dizziness wasn't as bad that time. The pain in his head was beginning to subside a bit, and it no longer felt like the pain was part of his veins and arteries. He looked to his left and saw the candle sitting in an old fashioned holder on a table next to him. The table was made from some type of dark wood.

He picked up the candle in its holder and shone the light over the room. It was a lot bigger than he'd first thought. There was a glass on the table full of clear liquid that he hoped was water. He put the candle back down on the table and became aware of a great burning thirst in his throat. He picked up the glass and looked it over carefully. His hand was trembling and some of the water spilled over the rim and onto the table forming a small dark pool on the surface. He dipped a finger of his other hand into the liquid and brought it to his lips. He hesitated for a minute, but then chided himself for his fear. He wanted that water, he was so thirsty. He opened his mouth and tasted the liquid. It was cool and sweet like water. There was no other taste, but he knew there were dozens of poisons that had no taste. He picked up the glass and drained it. If the water was poisoned or drugged, it was too late now.

He picked up the candle again and got carefully to his feet. The last of the dizziness was fading. And the pain in his head wasn't as severe as it had been, but it still let him know that he was alive and not in the middle of a very bad dream.

He moved across the room and as he got closer to the other side a door became visible. His steps quickened and when he reached it he was unpleasantly surprised to see that there was no knob on this side of the door. It was wooden like the table and there were brass fittings and hinges that sparkled in the light of the candle. He reached out and touched the smooth finish of the door.

"Is there someone there?" He said, or tried to say. His voice was hoarse and it trembled like his shaking hands. The darkness in back of him seemed to press against his back and shoulders like the embrace of some malevolent spirit.

_There are no such things as spirits. Use your head and start thinking of a way to get out of here!_

He called out again, making his voice stronger and more confident than he felt. "If anyone is out there, I'm a Federal agent. Let me out of here now, and maybe we can work something out."

There was no answer. Had he expected that there would be? The darkness was pressing harder against him; it seemed to know that he was afraid. He felt dizzy again, but he didn't want to turn around. The candlelight was still so dim. It gave him no relief from his fears. His legs began to tremble and his breath came in gasps. His chest was so tight he could hardly breathe and his pounding head hurt like it had when he first woke. The candle fell from his hand and sputtered out on the floor of the cave. It was completely dark, so dark he couldn't see anything. It was black as night in hell. He felt a scream begin to well up in his throat and he forced himself not to give voice to it. He dropped to his knees and felt for the candle but he couldn't find it, then the dizziness over took him and he passed out on the cold stone floor.

_He was walking through the trees. They fluttered round him in the cold October air. Leaves and twigs crackled under his feet and in the distance he could hear the rustle of corn stalks. The sound of the wind in the corn fields got louder as he walked north._

_There were birds flapping overhead and animals scampered through the branches of the trees over his head. It was completely dark except for the full moon. The branches filtered out the light of the moon, diffusing the red light into the surrounding darkness. He couldn't see too far in front of him, but he walked without fear of falling. In fact, all fear of the darkness was gone. The only thing he felt was a terrible sense of foreboding as the rustle of corn got louder and louder in his ears. _

_He stepped out of the forest after a long while and found the cornfield in front of him. And he didn't want to move forward, but his feet wouldn't obey his brain. He crossed the dirt road in front of him and stepped into the cornfield. The rustling in the corn was getting louder and louder as the wind picked up and tossed the stalks into each other. He pushed through them and the red light from the moon fell like a bloody pall over the field and his feet. The ground was black underneath him and it seemed like he walked forever. _

_There was a loud scream in front of him and he broke into a run. Dogs were growling and barking and she was screaming._

"_JJ," He called. _

_Abruptly he was clear of the field and in the back of a terribly familiar barn. The dogs barked, there were three gun shots and someone knocked him to the ground. He rolled to his back and looked up in a daze at the face of Tobias Hankel. _

"_No… you can't be here, I killed you!" He shouted._

_The scene changed again and he was back in the cave. The room was brightly lit with torches, their yellow light casting weirdly dancing shadows around the room. There were men in a circle and he was part of that circle. He found himself murmuring a low chant, words that he didn't understand. It was no language he'd ever studied or come across in his years in school. _

_He looked down and saw that he wore black robes belted at the waist like some insane monk's habit. It one hand held a jeweled dagger. It was silver and reflected the flames of the torch on its surface. He found he couldn't take his eyes off the dagger, and the rubies and sapphires that encrusted the hilt. An overwhelming sense of purpose flooding his being and he looked down at the altar. There was another man lying bound to the altar in front of him and he was looking up at Reid with an expression that was past terrified. His eyes pleaded with Reid, and with dawning horror Spencer recognized the man._

_It was the same man he'd seen in his dreams, the same man he had been in the dreams. There was no headless horseman in this dream. The man was dressed in black and his white shirt was open half down his chest. He screamed as the chanting began to crescendo. Reid heard his own voice say in a commanding tone._

"_Pieter Van Houten, first born of Jan Van Houten. You have been chosen to give your life for the wrongs of your father upon this land and upon the only daughter of the Guardians' High Lord, Heinrick Van Tassel. As your father's name was erased from this place, so your blood shall provide protection to this town for another generation of time." _

_He stepped forward and raised the dagger above his head. The man on the altar screamed again. Reid couldn't stop it. He was screaming inside his own head as he watched his hand flash down and drive the dagger into the heart of the man in front of him._

_At the last minute Pieter Van Houten's face changed and rippled like a bad computer generated effect in a big block buster movie. As the dagger struck home, the face became his own, and pain cleaved into his head and chest. _

Reid's eyes popped open and there was light above his face. He saw the masked face of a man in black robes stood over him and he screamed. The pain in his head was so intense his vision began to blur, and fade in and out.

"It will do you no good to scream young master Van Houten. Soon it will be time for the ritual and you will add your blood to the protection of this town."

Reid tried to reach out and push the man away when he bent over him, but he was suddenly weaker then a kitten and unable to move. He groaned and a very soft "No!" formed on his lips.

"I promise you my young friend that it will be over soon. The Guardians take no pleasure in the pain and torture of their promised sacrifices." He picked Reid up as if he weighed nothing and carried him out of the door.


	11. Calling for backup

_A/n many thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from CM or Washington Irving. I own only my own original characters_

_**Calling for backup** _

"So Ms Jansen told you that Reid is from some Old Dutch family that pissed off another Old Dutch family, and they are using the resident demon to punish the other family, and now Reid gets to be a virgin sacrifice." Morgan was laughing heartily by the time he finished this summation of what JJ had told them.

"I thought that virgin sacrifices were usually big busted teenage girls in the movies, not geeky behavioral analysts." He added still snorting.

"Shut up Morgan, it's not funny." JJ pinned him with a glare.

"Hm… that struck a nerve. You got a thing for Dr. Reid?" Morgan wondered grinning at JJ.

"Alright… let's focus on finding Reid." Gideon reminded them.

"Morgan… get Garcia on the phone, we need more information." Hotch said, just as the phone rang.

"Hey guys… I've got some information for you on the Van Tassels, Ms Jansen and the Guardians. The Van Tassels have lived in Sleepy Hollow since it was first founded. The original head of the family was very wealthy by the standards of the time. I found record of a marriage between Katrina Van Tassel and Jan Van Houten. She died three months after the wedding, but was buried under her maiden name. Jan Van Houten married again and had two boys and three daughters. His son Pieter was first born and he disappeared soon after his eighteenth birthday. The family had already left the area when he disappeared. The family line continues down through the second son's line all the way to Reid."

"So you're saying that Reid is a relation to the original model for Ichabod Crane." Emily said in disbelief, beating Morgan to whatever smart remark he was going to make.

"Yes, his father was the younger brother of the latest Van Houten to go missing. The family changed its name in 1909 to Reid. I think they were trying to escape the curse."

"There's no such thing as curses." Morgan said, sipping the cup of coffee in front of him.

"I don't know what's really happening there sugar, but I do know that the oldest son in every generation has gone missing and nothing has ever been found." Garcia informed him.

"But that's impossible, how could that be? There had to be investigations into the disappearances." Emily said looking incredulous.

"There were, but they all dead ended at Sleepy Hollow and the Van Houten's were always reluctant to push the investigations. They fled the area, but I get the impression that they thought these sacrifices were their penance for the murder of Katrina Van Tassel.

"That's crazy. Why would a family let another family kill their sons and brothers." Morgan wanted to know.

"Maybe we're wrong, maybe there really is a demon haunting this town." JJ piped up and the rest of the team just looked at her as though she was as crazy as the denizens of this town.

"You can't believe what Ms. Jansen told you." Morgan said.

"I told you what she said. She knows things. I think we need to take it seriously. I wish this were a simple case of some satanic cult wannabes, but I don't think that's the case." JJ said defensively, wishing she hadn't said anything.

"The Guardians were formed in the late 18th century. It was kind of like the old boys service clubs. That's what their charter says, but I can't find any charitable contributions or projects in which they've been involved."

"The address for the Van Tassel estate is Nine Willow Lane. It's at the end of the village on a hill right at the edge of the remaining forest in that area. There's a series of underground tunnels on the property that can be accessed from the house or from an out building in the north east corner of the estate. I'm sending the exact location to you." She ended the call without another word.

"Well… let's get out there." Morgan said, rising from his chair and heading for the door.

"Wait a minute. We only have the word of a blind witness to tell us he's there. We can't go charging in there, and we don't have a warrant or probable cause to go in." Hotch reminded him.

"I doubt the judge is going to give us a warrant. What are we going to tell him, that one of our teammates was kidnapped by a killer cult on Halloween? He'll think we're crazy, then we'll be in jail for wasting his time." Emily said looking very frustrated.

"What are we going to do? We can't just let these men kill Reid." JJ said, her voice rising on every word she spoke.

"We're going to separate and take the locations found in the tourist brochure that Gideon and Morgan found in his room. Gideon you and Morgan go back to the inn. Try to get the innkeeper to tell you anything else. Emily and I will go to the Old Dutch Church and see if he was there. JJ, I want you to go get Detective Stone and see if the Van Tassels will let us search the grounds and the house."

Morgan had already pulled on his jacket and was at the door of the conference room. He made to open the door and found it locked.

"What the hell." He slammed a fist on the door.

"What's wrong?" Gideon asked, getting up and joining Morgan at the door.

"It's locked! Why the hell is it locked?" He shouted and again pounded his fist against the door so that it shook a bit. "Get out of the way Gideon, I'll kick it down."

"Wait a minute," JJ interrupted him and he threw her a glare.

"You were so hot to get out of here, why are you telling me not to break it in."

"I have an idea; just let me call in a friend." She sat down calmly and pulled out her phone. There was a hurried conversation and then she turned to Hotch.

"That was my contact with the State Police. His name is Sergeant Matthew Sinclair. He's out of New York City, but I've called in a favor. He and about a dozen state troopers are on their way here right now. They should be here in about forty five minutes." She looked at her watch and saw that it was after nine pm. They were running out of time.

"Good… when our friend Detective Stone shows up for whatever he has planned for us, we'll clue him in on the hazards of holding federal officers against their will." Gideon said, sitting back down in his chair and pulling Reid's diary into his hands again.

"I can't believe this; it's like something out of an old movie." Emily remarked.

"Well… it makes sense that law enforcement is in on this whole thing, it's the only way something like this could be kept quiet." Hotch remarked. The phone beeped again and Morgan answered it.

"Hey gorgeous… I got more bad news for you. It seems that the chief of police and the chief of detectives, your new friend Detective Stone and his boss Captain Slater are charter members of the Guardians." She informed the group.

"This time sweetness, we beat you to it. We're locked in this little room -"

"What… do you want me to call in the local feds?" The concern in her voice made all of them feel just a little better about their predicament.

"No… already beat you to that as well." JJ told her friend what she did and Garcia whistled. "You go girl."

"Thanks for the info baby girl and don't worry about us or Reid, we'll have him home tonight." Morgan promised her hoping that he wasn't lying to her.

"I know… call me if you need me." She was gone, but the warmth of her friendly voice had bolstered all of their hopes.

The door suddenly opened on the group and Detective Stone and two uniforms entered the room. They were all armed with riot guns and bullet proof vests.

"So guys I guess the wait is over, our friends are here." Morgan spat out. His hands fisted on the table and he caught Stone's eye before the man could look away.

"We don't want any trouble here in the precinct. Remove your weapons and put them on the table." Detective Stone ordered looking directly at Hotch.

"I don't think so." Morgan said getting to his feet, ignoring the guns pointed in his direction.

"Do it now or you'll visit the cells down stairs. We've got a couple of guys down there that would love to greet a few federal agents." The man in uniform next to the detective began to laugh.

"Gentlemen, why don't we all just calm down." JJ stood up and held up her hands. "We only want to find our agent. You take us to where he is and maybe I'll call off the back up that's arriving here in about 35 minutes." She said calmly.

Detective Stones face went the color of buttermilk. "What did you say?" He asked pointing his rifle at JJ.

"Oh sorry… didn't we make it clear that we're here to find our team member and we're not leaving here without him. We discovered we were locked in a few minutes ago and I called in a favor. You're going to have state troopers and SWAT all over here, so I suggest you stand down." She calmly, pulling her Glock out of its holster and training it directly on Detective Stone, her face a mask of cold anger. The detective told his men to put down their weapons.

"Call them off," He snapped at her. "I'll take you to him."

"Right… she calls them off and you kill us and him. I don't think so." Morgan interjected.

"Okay… alright… but let me call Mr. Van Tassel. There's a big party going on at his estate and we don't want anyone to get hurt." Detective Stone asked pulling his cell from his belt.

"No… we know that Reid isn't in the house. Your leader would never risk a ritual like that with quests in the house. Reid's in the tunnels under the property." Gideon said, his tone the same as a man who observed an interesting new insect under a microscope.

"How did you…" The detective trailed off and put his cell back on his belt. His hate filled eyes found Gideon and it was to him that he spoke, ignoring the rest of the team.

"You don't know what you're doing. The demon must have its sacrifice or many more people will die." He said looking absolutely terrified.

"There's another way and he knows it!" JJ piped up and flushed red when Morgan gaped at her.

"Alexandra Jansen told me that Reid can rid you of the demon if he gives his own blood of his own free will."

"JJ are you crazy. These people are crazy, there's no demon here and even if there were, you can't expect Reid to kill himself for them." Morgan was incensed and his hands were in fists at his sides.

"I don't expect him to kill himself. Only a little blood is needed. He's the last of his line, he can stop this." JJ insisted, not believing what she was saying but something told her that the witch was right.

She didn't want to believe it but the new knowledge wouldn't leave her now that she had it in her brain. It was like something in her own blood and she knew it to be the truth as sure as she had ever known anything in her life.

Detective Stone looked at her in amazement. It was some kind of profiler trick. She was an outsider and didn't know of their ways. "Don't try to trick me." He said with loathing.

"I'm not trying to trick you. Take me to him, I can explain what he must do." She begged.

"JJ don't -" Hotch began and then flinched when she turned a hot look on him.

"Hotch… I can't explain it but please trust me."

He regarded her for a long time before he nodded and the group of them went out into the storm tossed night.

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Reid opened his eyes once more and the pain that had cleaved his head in two was gone. The dizziness was gone too. He was still in the stone room or a different one. He wasn't sure which, but fear was still pounding through his blood.

This time his limbs were chained to something he lay on. It felt like cold stone under his back, but he wasn't sure. A face suddenly appeared over his in the swaying torch light around him. He yelped and tried to move away from the masked face, but he couldn't move more then a few inches.

"Don't worry young Van Houten it will be over soon." It was the same voice he'd heard in the other room.

"Let me go." Reid demanded as the face moved away from his line of vision. The footsteps of the masked man faded away and Reid began to furiously yank on his chains, but they were too strong. He gave up and began to realize that he wasn't going anywhere. The rest of the team didn't know where he was and he was about to be… He decided not to dwell on that thought and went back to wondering how he was going to get out of the trap he'd gotten himself into.


	12. Vanquishing the Demon

_A/n hey guys thank you so much for your kind feedback. There will be one more chapter to come. Thank you all for your support and thanks to my wonderful beta REIDFANATIC._

_Disclaimer: I don't know nor have I ever owned anything to do with CM or Washington Irving's story. I own only my own characters._

_**Vanquishing the demon.**_

JJ was sitting in the front of the SUV next to Hotch. All of them had donned bullet proof vests, and now they had to wait for back up to arrive in the form of New York State troopers and SWAT. Emily and Gideon sat in the back of the SUV while Morgan was with Detective Stone making sure that he didn't warn Van Tassel.

JJ looked out over the hills above the Van Tassel estate. They had entered the estate at the back gate. The guard had been subdued by Morgan, who had tied the hapless man up and left him at his post. She noticed that the sky was entirely black, except for the moon, which was a very ominous red. She'd never seen the moon look that way and it chilled her blood.

She knew she shouldn't buy into the witch's tale, but there was so much evidence to suggest that is was true. Reid had lost so many members of his family to these people. She shivered when a bolt of lightning suddenly lit up the sky. A few seconds later, there was a crack of thunder so loud she screamed a little and jumped in her seat.

"You okay JJ," Hotch asked from beside her. He too was watching and waiting as impassive as ever, but there was something she saw for a brief minute in his face that told her he was as jumpy as she felt.

"Yeah… just a little anxious for the troopers to get here," She said with a tentative smile in his direction.

She looked out the window again and watched the lights in the Van Tassel house blaze. It was almost ten pm. They only had until midnight to search the large estate and find Spence. Despite what Gideon had said, they would search the large house below them, just in case Reid was there.

There was another flash of lightning followed later by another grumble of thunder, this time the crash sounded closer. The wind was picking up and JJ could see through the darkness the fall leaves racing along the ground on the gusts of wind.

_Where are you Spence?_

She shivered when a sudden chill broke along her spine moving fast from head to foot. He was frightened and she could feel it in her bones as clearly as anything she'd ever felt in her life. She began to take deep breaths trying to calm the feeling of dread and terror in her heart. Then the sensation of him in her blood and heart was gone.

"JJ what's wrong?" Hotch asked her.

She opened her mouth to reply, and then there were vehicles coming up the road toward them, their headlights illuminating the clearing in the forest where they had parked off the road. They'd left their sirens off as JJ had asked and she saw the lead car stop and her friend from the State troopers exit the car.

Sergeant Matthew Sinclair was taller than any man she'd ever seen in law enforcement. He stood six foot eight inches tall and was more powerfully built than Morgan. He had dark brown hair and green eyes. His partner came around the car to talk to him and JJ, who'd emerged from the SUV. The wind was dying down a bit and the lightning and thunder were still moving closer, but the rain hadn't begun to fall, yet.

"Thanks for coming Matt." He took her hand in his where it was swallowed whole before he let it go again.

"This is my team." She introduced the rest of the team and he did the same for his team. The air was very cold and JJ wondered if it would snow instead of rain.

It was decided that Detective Stone would take the troopers to the estate and search it before they went in to the tunnels. Detective Stone left with a vague threat at Gideon for not keeping his promise to leave the party guests out of it.

They retreated to their vehicles and it was a very long time later that Morgan and the search team came back empty handed.

"Mr. Van Tassel wasn't there. His wife claims she doesn't know what we're talking about and all of the guests were very unhelpful when we questioned them." He said with a scowl.

"Alright detective, how do we get into the tunnels?" Gideon asked Stone, who was now in handcuffs. Morgan stood over the man, who was taller than the agent, but looked smaller in the darkness of the night. He seemed to have trained the man without touching him because the detective told them how to find the entrance to the tunnels.

"We're going to have to walk from here. Let's get going before it rains." Hotch ordered. They plunged into the darkness, their flashlights bobbing ahead of them and JJ was reminded of searching the graveyard in Georgia for Reid. She kept straining to her his voice through the swaying trees and the lightning flashes. Thunder crashed nearly over their heads and a rain drop splattered on her head as they approached the entrance to the tunnels.

They walked faster as the hillside approached and the trees got thicker and thicker around them. The rain wasn't penetrating the heavy branches of the fir and oak trees that were huge and hundreds of years old. Her flashlight, combined with the light of the others around her, lit up the ground and revealed the brown and golden leaves strewn over the floor of the forest. There were pine needles carpeting the ground and she couldn't see the black dirt under her feet.

Even though she was surrounded by her team and the other law enforcement officers, she felt alone in the trees.

_Imagine how Spence must feel. _

That was the problem; she could imagine how he must feel. Put it aside! She told herself. She had to do her job and later she would deal with the revelations made to her by the witch and by Spence's diary.

The rain was starting to penetrate the thick trees when they reached the opening in the hillside. The tunnels were only wide enough to allow them to move in two abreast. She moved up to enter just behind the pairs of SWAT agents. They moved silently through the tunnels. The sound of the storm and the thunder and lightning were left behind as they moved down the torch lit tunnel. The flames of the torches fluttered around them as they passed, casting shadows over them.

They moved down and meandered around until the sound of chanting began to fill the passageway. The SWAT team halted and the leader of the team spoke quietly with Hotch on their radios. They began to move forward again, slower than they had before, although the BAU team all looked anxious to plunge ahead despite the danger of the situation.

The chanting got louder and louder and JJ couldn't understand the words. Reid would know what they were she though, and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. It should be someone else they were looking for, not Reid; in no scenario should it be him they searched for, not again. How much more could he take before he broke?

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Reid had watched in curiosity rather than real terror when the men in the black habits entered the round room he was in. It wasn't possible to his brain that thirteen men in the circle around him wanted to kill him. It had to be some kind of joke. He had tried to reason with his captors, but no one listened to him.

One of the masked men moved from the circle and removed his mask. The man was old, at least seventy and balding. He frowned down on Reid and held the silver knife that Reid had seen in his dream, in his hand. It was real then. They were going to kill him. He started to struggle against the chains again. His wrists were beginning to chafe and bleed from the manacles cutting into the skin.

"You don't have to do this." He cried out, but the man did not flinch or even acknowledge that he heard Reid.

"There are no such things as demons. You've been fooled by a story." He desperately tried another tactic, but reasoning with any of these men was futile.

Another unmasked face appeared over him. It was the innkeeper. "You," he shouted up at the man. "Help me, these men are crazy! I know you don't want to hurt me. You were so kind this afternoon."

Van Cleef ignored him and replaced the mask over his face. Reid pulled at the manacles on his hands and burning pain shot up his arms as they continued to cut into his wrists. The blood caused his hands to twist in the manacles and more pain raced up his arms, but he ignored it.

The men were beginning to chant again. Their voices rose and fell and he recognized the chant from his dream. There was a scream that wanted to bubble up from his chest, but he clamped down on it. If this was his time to die, he wasn't going to die in fear. He had already done that once!

The chanting continued as the man he'd first seen over his line of sight moved back into view. He stared back at the man and something came into his eyes. He flinched back from Reid. The chanting faltered for the briefest moment as Reid yanked on the chains, the pain white hot in his brain.

The man approached him once more and the chanting began again. Reid looked at the rock ceiling above his head and let his mind go where it had wanted to go since he had awoken on this rock surface. The members of his team shuffled through his mind's eye along with a rush of affection for each of them.

The chanting began to fade around him and all he could hear was Gideon's quiet wisdom and Hotch's stern but caring voice. He heard Emily arguing good naturedly with him over the meaning of Proust's works. Morgan was there too, teasing him about girls or his taste in clothing, or a hundred other things. And Garcia, precious Penelope, calling him 'Sweet cheeks' or some equally silly pet name that he so longed to hear at this moment. He thought of his mother and he wondered if she would miss him when he was gone, or would she block out that he was gone under her delusions.

JJ was the last person he thought of when the man raised the knife over his head. Her smiling face was in front of his eyes, her golden hair that he longed to touch and never would. The knife flashed in the torch light and began to descend. It was okay. A brief flash of pain and it would be okay. He might never touch her again, but at least he could watch over her. The dagger descended as if in slow motion, and then there were familiar voices and a gunshot.

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JJ lowered her gun and the man fell to the ground with a gaping wound in his shoulder. The other men were rounded up fairly quickly after that, and Morgan was at the altar in the middle of the room trying to get Reid's manacles off his bleeding wrists.

"It's okay now Reid. We'll get you out of here and -"

There was a loud noise that seemed to come from the walls itself and reverberate through the tunnels and the chamber.

"You see… he comes… the horseman must have the sacrifice." One man began to struggle with the SWAT agent cuffing him.

The sounds drew closer. It was the sound of horse's hooves in the tunnel. "You must let us complete the sacrifice or we are all dead." Other voices screamed and were silenced.

JJ ran to where Morgan had removed one manacle using a key Hotch had just taken off the High Lord of the Guardians. She crouched next to Reid as the hoof beats became louder still. There was a scream and the high pitched neighing of a horse. A black figure erupted into the room and stopped in front of the altar. The man dressed in black wasn't headless. His head was on his shoulders and covered by a black cloak. His eyes were the only visible part of his face and they were blood red and flaming in their sockets.

"Reid… you have to destroy him. You're the last of your line. You have to do it." She shook him out of his stupor and Morgan shouted at her but she ignored him.

"Spence, do you trust me?"

She asked this looking deep into his eyes and speaking over the roar of the demon and the screams of the cult. There were several gunshots but they all ricocheted around the room and miraculously no one was hit. She looked up at the figure on horseback and its eyes were fixed on Reid.

Spencer nodded and she bent down and spoke quickly to him. His eyes widened at her suggestion, but she nodded encouragingly.

He looked up at the specter in front of him and it began to come closer, pulling a sword from its hip scabbard. He looked back at JJ and she nodded again. He pulled away from Morgan, who'd just released his other wrist and was trying to bandage one of them with a strip of his own shirt.

He pulled off the strip of cloth ignoring Morgan. JJ grabbed his partner and tried to pull him back as Reid held both of his hands face down over the altar and let his blood drop onto the stone in front of him. He spoke directly to the demon in front of him.

"I am Spencer Reid, last first born son of the Van Houten line. I end the curse over my family and this village by giving my blood of my own free will. Demon... I command you to leave this place!" He spoke with an authority that rang through the room and reverbarated as if they were in a grand cathedral.

There was a horrible scream from the demon, and a raging fire appeared around the horseman, consuming him. He disappeared into thin air, and in the intervening silence, Reid fell forward onto the altar and didn't wake up until hours later at the hospital.


	13. In the end is the beginning

_A/n hey all! This is the last chapter. I want to thank everyone that his stuck with this story. I realize that its pretty out there, but I had fun writing it. I will now but the CM team back in more or less the same condition as I found them. Thanks again to my wonderful beta, whom I made read this chapter three times before I was satisfied and then I changed it again._

_Disclaimer: I still don't own them people._

_**In the end is the beginning. **_

Dr. Stanley Tanner pulled a sheet up to cover the body of the young woman in front of him. The African American woman had been killed by her boyfriend when he found out she was cheating on him with his best friend. He had the body of that young man in the drawer next to her.

Detective Rawlins entered the morgue and approached the ME and his latest autopsy. "Hey Doc… what did you find out about Ms Jansen."

"She died of old age or natural causes about eight days ago. It's not surprising that no one noticed. All of the activity in the Hollow around this cult and the fact that she had no family…"

Detective Rawlins raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that she was dead before Halloween night?"

The doctor shrugged, and frowned. "It's hard to be sure of the exact time of death, but given the rate of decomposition and the steady temperature in the house, I'd say she died at least two days before Halloween." The doctor stripped off his gloves and regarded the detective.

"I can't understand why the FBI and Detective Stone would say that they saw that old woman if she was dead. Was there some kind of mass hypnosis going on or are they all liars? I mean, it had to be something like that. They couldn't have seen ghosts or demons, right?"

The doctor shrugged his shoulders again. "I can't tell you that detective."

"I suppose it doesn't matter. Even if it did, I can't worry about that now. I have to try to sort out how Van Tassel was able to get his hooks so deep into this town. He had everyone of stature here believing in a demon and a curse. I'm going to find out how he did it and then I'm going to clean up this place."

The ME nodded absently and watched as the detective left the room. He didn't know what had happened on Halloween night, but he wasn't going to complain, the town felt different then it ever had and for that he was glad.

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Hotch hung up his phone and sighed loudly. "I take it the Director wasn't happy with your version of events?" Hotch looked up to see Gideon standing in the doorway. The older agent leaned against the door and smiled at his friend.

"No… he doesn't understand why I don't have a different explanation for him." Hotch said from where he sat in a pool of light from the desk lamp.

"I don't know that I believe the evidence of my own eyes." Gideon admitted.

"I also got a call from a Detective Rawlins in Sleepy Hollow. He was pretty upset when I told him we had all seen Alexandra Jansen on Halloween night. They found her dead in her own home of natural causes. She died a couple of days before Halloween." Hotch announced and nearly smiled at the look on his friends face.

Gideon was silent for a long time a myriad of expressions rolling across his face. Finally he said, "Well… let's not tell Reid about it. I think he'd had enough strangeness for a life time."

"I think we all have." Hotch agreed. He shut off the lamp and he and Gideon left the BAU together.

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The leaves flew on the wind and the moon shone overhead. It was white and bathed the path through the forest in white light and black shadows from the trees. The wind was cold and the animals hid in their burrows and nests as it pushed through the trees, soughing on the branches and making them sob an eerie song.

The sound of faraway corn stalks began to rustle on the air and the pounding of distant horses hooves hovered on the wind before fading away into silence. A faint laugh echoed over the wind and then it was gone as though it had never been.

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Reid's welcome back party/birthday party was in full swing. The members of the team were crowded into Garcia's office. The bandages had come off his wrists and the scars were healing nicely. Luckily the cuts had been shallow and hadn't required stitches.

He squirmed in the chair he was sitting in as Morgan was teasing him about the whole virgin sacrifice part of his ordeal.

"I told you before that you needed to find yourself a nice woman Reid. If you had, you wouldn't have ended up in that predicament." Morgan was saying.

Reid was trying to ignore him, but Emily and Garcia had joined it with Morgan. Garcia leaned over to Reid and began to whisper in his ear. JJ watched his face turn crimson. Garcia pulled away with a smile and a wink. He looked at her for a minute, confusion warring with embarrassment on his face and in his eyes.

Then he said, "Is that even physically possible?" Garcia began to laugh wildly. "Sure it is… we'll just need a little saliva."

"Oh Penelope…. that's just not right. You guys are like brother and sister, how can you even consider it?" Emily said looking disgusted.

"Hey… I'm just trying to save Reid from the next killer cult that comes along. I like his face and want to see it around here." She wound an arm around Reid and hugged him.

"Anyway, if the thought is so repugnant to you, why don't you help him out? You can take one for the team, right?" Penelope asked.

Emily regarded Reid who was purple faced by that time. "Sure, he's pretty cute." She said. She went to the other side of Reid and threw an arm around him, looking him up and down with a very appraising eye. Morgan and Garcia began to laugh while Reid refused to look at any of them. JJ threw them all a look that would have split rock, and got up to leave the room. She slammed the door behind her.

"What's the matter with her?" Garcia wondered.

"I don't know, but I think it's time for cake." Morgan said, giving up his Reid teasing in favor of food.

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Reid had just dropped his jacket on the couch when the doorbell rang. He frowned and wondered who it could be. He hoped it wasn't his neighbor trying to push more food on him. She had brought him enough food over the last week to feed a small army. He was just glad that it was Friday and it looked like a full weekend off. He hoped it would be. He was beat. He pulled open the door after looking out of the peep hole and seeing the last person he ever expected to see on his doorstep.

"JJ… what are you doing here?" She walked into the room and he shut the door.

"How are you?" She asked looking everywhere but in his eyes.

He ignored the question and indicated the sofa. She sat down and studied her shoes. What was wrong now… he wondered as he sat down next to her?

"JJ… what are you doing here?" He asked again. He didn't need a babysitter so if she thought that…

"I needed to return something to you." She reached into her bag and pulled out a familiar green notebook. He hadn't noticed it was gone, as the dreams had left with the demon.

"You took this from my room?" He asked incredulously. Suddenly pieces began to fit together in his head and his blood began to boil.

"I get it… now it makes sense. He got up and began to pace around the room, his heart thumping hard in his chest as anger surged and poured acid in his stomach.

"Spence… I don't know what you -"

"Stop it… I don't want to hear it. You and Morgan, and Emily and Garcia in the office, you thought you were so funny, laughing about Sleepy Hollow and helping me out so it didn't happen again. You all read the diary. You read the last entry didn't you? "

He stopped pacing and stood in front of her, his chest heaving. He suddenly stopped and yanked the diary out of her hands

"Spence… I'm sorry we just wanted to find -"

"Get out…" He said softly through gritted teeth.

"Please…"

"I said get out… I don't want you here. You never cared about me. You're just like all the rest!" He turned and strode out of the room to his bedroom. JJ ran behind him and slipped in before he could shut the door.

He whipped around at the slight sound of her breath exhaling from her lungs with a soft sigh. "I told you to get out. I don't ever want to see you again."

"I read the diary and so did Gideon, but the rest of the team didn't see it. I swear Spence -"

"I don't believe you. You all live to tease and humiliate me and it ends now!" He was shouting and she flinched away from the rage in his eyes.

"We had to look at everything that was here. We had to find you." She clutched at her bag her fingers white at the knuckles.

"You violated my privacy." He spat back at her and her own anger began to grow inside her like some malignant tumor.

"Stop playing the innocent Spence. I know what else you've been hiding." She swerved around him and went to his desk. She yanked the bottom drawer open and pulled out the tabloid magazine with his and Lila's picture on the cover. She held it out like an accusation.

"You can stop playing the wronged friend. I also found this the other day." She thrust it at him and he took it from her hands.

"You talk about betrayal and humiliation. You keep this around all this time. What am I supposed to think?" She demanded pointing at the cover of the magazine, her hand shaking.

"You're a real hypocrite," he shot back. "You go out on one date with me. You tell me that it's better that we should just be friends. Then I meet someone that liked me."

"If she likes you so much… where is she? Why isn't she here with you?" JJ demanded getting to her feet and taking a step toward Reid, who was still red faced and shaking with rage.

"It's none of your business what happened with Lila, but she is out of the picture." He ripped the cover off the magazine and began to tear it into pieces.

"You don't want me, but yet you don't want me to be with anyone else. How is that fair? He stood puffing and blowing in front of her as though he'd just run ten miles. The pieces of the picture fluttered out of his hands and to the floor.

"I don't want a fantasy. I want something that's real." His face was white now and he wouldn't look at her. "I won't wait anymore for you to see me as something more than a convenient friend."

"I'm sorry… I just wanted to return that to you. I came here because I wanted to tell you that I love you. I know I've been unfair to you." She whispered twisting her hands around in front of her.

"I didn't want to hurt you. Please forgive me for all of this." she gestured at the diary he'd thrown on the desk.

He was silent for so long that she decided it was better to leave. The betrayal in his eyes cut her to the core. Then he moved so fast, she screamed a little. He stepped forward and grabbed her arms. His hands hurt her upper arms, but she ceased to feel it when his mouth crashed down on hers. She didn't fight when she felt him push her down onto her back on the bed.

He released her mouth and her eyes opened to look up at him hovering over her body. Rage, pain, lust and love all warred in his eyes and she was afraid because something she'd never felt before began to fill her up from her feet to her head. It was some kind of connection to him that she never expected and suddenly she recognized it. It was the same thing she had felt when the blind woman had told her how to stop the curse. This was right, this was real, and she saw that Spencer felt it too. If it was real magic she didn't care. It was time to let go of logic for just one minute.

"Spence I -"

"Don't say anything." He insisted hoarsely and she realized his hand was trying to open the button of her shirt. He growled in frustration and used both hands to rip the shirt open. Buttons flew off both sides of the bed, hitting the wall on her left side with the sound of pebbles on a glass window.

The shock of his cold, thin hand on her breast made her jerk back into the bed. His mouth found hers again and her brain shut down.

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Reid put his cup of sugary coffee down on the coffee table at ten-thirty the next morning. He wore an old pair of dark blue sweat pants and a faded yellow tee shirt. The couch was very comfortable and he stretched out on it, leaning carefully against the throw pillow. The east facing window let in warm golden light and he watched the dust motes dance in the light while trying to figure out exactly what happened the night before.

His back was stinging. He thought it might be scratched but he couldn't remember for sure. He felt kind of like the one time he'd gone to a bar with Morgan and discovered he couldn't hold his liquor. There was no headache but he was exhausted and his body hurt in new places. There was a bite mark on his left shoulder, in a place where Morgan wouldn't see it, thank God!

He took a sip of the coffee and let it begin to clear the fog out of his head. The strange and wonderful part of his whole encounter with JJ was that she was still there. She hadn't walked away. She'd told him that she loved him. He never thought that would ever happen.

He was beginning to feel a little embarrassed and unhappy with himself. He took another swallow of coffee and tried to analyze what is was that had made him so aggressive with her last night. There was just something that had come over him and…

"Hey Spence…"

Hey turned to see JJ wearing his robe. His eyes roamed over her, and he saw the bruises in the shape of his fingers on her wrists.

"God… I hurt you!" He ran to her side and gingerly picked up one of her hands. He inspected the bruises and felt his eyes begin to sting.

"Hey…" She said softly and her other hand pulled his face up to look at her. "If you remember, you've got your own marks." She said with a grin.

He gaped at her for a long time and then when he thought about the night before, it reminded him that his back was stinging.

She waggled her eyebrows at him and he blushed to the roots of his hair. "Yeah… maybe you should help me put something on those scratches."

"We need to talk first."

"Yeah… I guess we do." He went to the kitchen followed by JJ and poured a second cup of coffee. He handed her the cup and they went into the living room.

"I don't know what happened last night. I couldn't stop myself. I'm sorry I hurt you." He said sitting down with her on the couch.

"I know… I mean I could have stopped you. You know that… right."

"Yeah… how come you didn't kick my ass?" He wondered looking genuinely perplexed.

"I don't know, it was like something took me over and I just had to be close to you or die." She said honestly, looking down at her cup of coffee. She twisted it in her hands and waited for him to speak.

He didn't for a long time and she was beginning to get afraid of what he was thinking. Then he said, "I know what you mean… I felt the same thing. It was like going to Sleepy Hollow. It was something I had to do. I don't know why but I don't want this feeling to ever stop." He flushed red and didn't meet her eyes.

"I don't want it to stop either." She said putting her untouched coffee on the table and leaning into kiss him again. She pulled away breathless and asked him. "Can we just see what happens and not analyze it to death?" He put his coffee cup next to hers and answered her with another searing kiss.

THE END


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